SWANLEY stab victim Natalie Jarvis was a “devious and manipulative woman”, a court heard today.

Murder suspect Adam Whelehan’s defence counsel Sasha Wass QC explained Miss Jarvis’ “merciless” harassment led to a change in his personality.

Whelehan, 23, of Roseberry Gardens, Sidcup, has admitted killing Miss Jarvis in Swanley Village on October 3 last year but claims it was “in lawful self defence” and he denies murder.

The prosecution alleges Whelehan murdered his girlfriend Miss Jarvis because he “wanted out of the relationship and the only way out he could see was to kill her.”

During the trial Maidstone Crown Court has heard Whelehan picked up Miss Jarvis from her home with his best friend Thomas Fuller hiding in the boot of his car at about 10.30pm.

He drove to a country lane car park in Swanley Village before getting out with Miss Jarvis about 10.50pm and "by the time he returned to the car, then driven by Fuller, she lay dead".

Miss Jarvis, aged 23, was found dead on the ground in Swanley Village Road after suffering more than 20 stab wounds.

This afternoon, Miss Wass told the jury: “You never want to speak ill of the dead but there is no doubt in this case that Natalie Jarvis was a manipulative woman.”

She highlighted the evidence given by Miss Jarvis’s 19-year old “best friend” Chelsea Scrace.

Miss Wass said: “Chelsea thought she knew Natalie Jarvis very well. Since her death, she learned things that make her think that she didn’t know Natalie at all.

“Chelsea believed that Natalie was pregnant with Adam Whelehan’s baby and she told you that Natalie would use this fact to make Adam do what she wanted or she would, in Chelsea’s words, ‘kick off’.”

Miss Wass explained Miss Jarvis’s “manipulative” personality is illustrated by the events on the evening of September 16 last year.

She said: “Remember Natalie Jarvis wasn’t pregnant at all. She invented that for the purpose of manipulating Adam.

“Natalie put forward this pretence that she was in hospital because there was some sort if complication with the pregnancy.

“Natalie was trying to create a drama.”

She added: “It was all a lie. This is an indication of the type of person Natalie Jarvis was when it came to manipulating the emotions of other people.”

More than 120 text messages were sent that night by Miss Jarvis from Miss Scrace’s mobile phone to Whelehan.

Miss Wass also claimed this was not the first time Miss Jarvis had manipulated a boyfriend.

She said: “Her former partner described them as being ‘together in a loose way.’ They were good at first but eventually deteriorated into a nightmare.

“She constantly called him and sent him text messages, and attended his place of work.”

On May 14 last year her former boyfriend called the police after Miss Jarvis followed him home with a friend in her car, the court heard.

Miss Wass added: “She had told him she was pregnant by him.”

The court heard that police issued Miss Jarvis with a formal harassment warning and she was told not to contact him via telephone calls or in person and was told not to visit the road he lived in for any reason.

Her ex-boyfriend said after that he received constant calls from an unknown number.

He also said Miss Jarvis told him in November 2011 that she had terminated the pregnancy – but then later claimed she was still pregnant.

Miss Jarvis also texted her former lover’s girlfriend on October 1 last year suggesting recent infidelity with her, it was alleged.

Miss Wass said: “Natalie Jarvis had behaved in practically an identical way with someone else.

“So when Adam says he was blackmailed and pestered, that’s pretty much likely to be the truth.”

She told the jury of four women and eight men: “The point is, I’m asking you to put yourself in the shoes of a 23-year-old boy, or rather, young man.

“Adam Whelehan had had sex with Natalie Jarvis. He didn’t want a relationship with her.

“He certainly didn’t want a baby. He felt cornered. He was bombarded with texts and threats.

“Until July 2012, when he had sex with Natalie Jarvis, Adam had been a carefree, happy young man who enjoyed life and was easy-going and had everything going for him.

“In July 2012 he had sex with Natalie Jarvis and five days later she was telling him she was pregnant with his baby - she was merciless.

“The texts came, the demands came and then the threats.

“He became a different person. He was in effect, devastated by what Natalie was doing to him.

“He was 23, he was living with his parents. He was told he was going to be a father by someone who he was not in a relationship with.

“He became depressed, he became morbid and when his undertaker friend started talking about stabbing the woman he joined in the joke and it remained a joke.”

Miss Wass argued Miss Jarvis said: “If there’s someone in the boot, I’m going to kill you both” because she was armed.

She explained: “I suggest Natalie was able to make that threat against two men because she had armed herself with the multi-tool that she found in Adam Whelehan’s glove box.”

She concluded: “It is a clear case of self-defence. The fact that Natalie Jarvis came out of this worse is not the test that you have to consider.

“You have to put yourself in Adam Whelehan’ shoes. At the time, he was acting, he knew what Natalie Jarvis was capable of.”

She said: “He is an eight-and-a-half stone weakling.

“He was attacked by an obsessive woman armed with a multi-tool.”

Whelehan and Fuller deny murder.

The trial continues.