MANSFIELD MURDER TRIAL: Key witness accused in court of telling ‘poisonous lies’

Julie Cope had a sexual affair for four weeks with Dutch man Emiel Blankert, whom Swift (49) is charged with murdering at their home on Ladybrook Place, Mansfield in December last year. She pleads not guilty.

Nottingham Crown Court has heard that Swift and Mr Blankert (48), who were both alcoholics and heroin-addicts, were caught in a cycle of violence against each other

And Miss Cope told the court how she saw injuries to Mr Blankert that he said Swift had inflicted.

“He told me she had hit him with a cricket bat,” said Miss Cope. “He said he couldn’t get the bat off her because she would get mad.

“If it wasn’t the bat, it would be something else. Anything she could lay her hands on.

“I told him he needed to go to hospital and to the police to get it sorted. But he said: how would it look if a grown man went to the police station, saying he had been beaten by a woman?”

Miss Cope said the affair finished at the end of 2011, after which Swift would hurl abuse at her when they saw each other, she claimed.

However, under cross-examination, Swift’s barrister, Michael Auty (defending), branded Miss Cope’s tale of an affair as “nonsense” and told her: “This is a complete fantasy.There is not a scrap of honesty and truth in your account.

“It is poison against Michelle Swift, whom you hate.”

Mr Auty said Miss Cope was making her accusations to cover for the fact that Mr Blankert’s injuries at that time had really been caused in an assault by Danny Bills, one of her close friends and neighbours.

He told her: “In June 2011, Mr Blankert was admitted to hospital with multiple injuries, complaining of an assault by Mr Bills. You are nothing more than a hired gun for Danny Bills, seeking to get revenge.”

Bills was also the boyfriend of the eldest daughter of Mark Robinson, who was currently in an on-off relationship with Miss Cope, the court heard.

Until about seven years ago, Mr Robinson was the partner of one of Swift’s sisters, Tina, and had five children with her. He was also the best friend of Swift’s brother, Paul.

Mr Robinson told the court he often saw both Mr Blankert and Swift with injuries and heard tales of a cricket bat being used. The violence even became the subject of an occasional joke.

“Me and Michelle used to take the mickey out of each other,” said Mr Robinson. “I would say things: have you been playing cricket with each other this week then? And if so, who had batted first?”

However, Mr Robinson also pointed out Mr Blankert’s injuries were often caused by him falling over, through drink and drugs..

“I saw him fall over at my house many times,” he said. “He knocked over the TV once and there was a time when we had a competition between the Englishman, the Scotsman and the Dutchman for head-butting lampshades.”

THE TRIAL IS CONTINUING.