“COLD and calculated executioner” Adam Whelehan has been accused of “lying” in court “literally trying to get away with murder.”

Whelehan, 23, of Roseberry Gardens, Sidcup, has admitted killing Natalie 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.

In his closing argument, prosecutor Ian Acheson told jurors: “This was a callous stabbing Adam Whelehan had planned and that he executed.

“And when he wasn’t lying before you - literally trying to get away with murder - he has at various stages admitted to the cold emotionless execution.”

Mr Acheson continued: “This young man, say the prosecution, had persuaded himself that there was no way out of this pregnancy problem.

“There was no way out of this, except for one of the two of them to die.

“And when he decided there was no point killing himself over a girl, it was her.”

Mr Acheson asked the jury to remind themselves of the level of emotion Whelehan displayed when giving evidence.

He said: “Remind yourselves of the level of emotion he displayed before you of what must have been the most memorable and chilling and harrowing night of his life.

“When asked by me ‘Did you have any feelings for Natalie at all?’ the answer was a very straightforward no. He didn’t. He needed to get rid of her. It was her or him.”

Mr Acheson argued Whelehan had a plan that had been developed with Fuller over months and that after killing Miss Jarvis he told friends he had “done” it.

He said: “From the moment he got out of the car, he had a plan.

“He stabbed and stabbed as he put it into effect before making a number of admissions to Natalie Jarvis’ murder.”

The prosecution allege Fuller, 23, of Oakley Drive, Eltham, was the “getaway driver.”

Mr Acheson said: “Fuller played the secondary role. In effect, driving away and being there as back-up if needed.

“The fact that so quickly did Whelehan put his plan into effect, Fuller’s secondary role was hardly needed that evening.”

He added: “Fuller had Miss Jarvis’s life, to an extent, in his hands.

“Therefore if he assisted rather than resisted what Whelehan was planning to do, if he encouraged rather than discouraged Whelehan in what he wanted to do, he played morally a part in throwing away Miss Jarvis’ life.”

Mr Acheson added Fuller did not initially tell police he was in the boot to overhear if Miss Jarvis insulted his father because “he hadn’t thought of it yet.”

He said: “He went to the car knowing what Whelehan was to do and to play a part in it by keeping himself tucked away quietly in the boot, doing nothing unless Whelehan needed help - until he needed to be driven away afterwards.”

He concluded: “Consider these two young men, their state of emotions, their approach to life.

“What we have here is the cold calculated execution of someone.

“This was a joint enterprise between two young men who wrongly, illegally and without feeling executed Whelehan’s plan for his relationship with Natalie Jarvis to end the only way he saw how - by the two of them murdering her.”

Whelehan and Fuller deny murder.

The trial continues.