A friend of a man accused of murdering his aspiring model girlfriend in a jealous rage told a court today he feared his pal would kill her on the night she died.

Tom Crowe told a jury at Winchester Crown Court that minutes before Elliot Turner went inside his house with Emily Longley, the defendant had given him a metal lump hammer and asked him to kill the 17-year-old for him. He said he had refused and told him to go away.

The couple, who had a short volatile relationship had then argued outside the house in Bournemouth, Dorset, with Emily saying to her boyfriend ''I hate you'' and trying to lock him out of his own home before he got inside and the door was shut.

Mr Crowe had witnessed the incident in the early hours of May 7 last year with one of Turner's neighbours Harry Hawkins and he told the jury he turned to Mr Hawkins and said: ''I think Elliot's going to kill Emily.''

He told the court that a short time earlier Turner had taken Emily's mobile phone and seen she had been texting other men.

Mr Crowe, 18, said Turner had been angry and was clutching the phone.

The court has already heard that Emily was found dead in Turner's bed later that morning. Turner said they argued, he defended himself and he woke up beside her and she was dead.

The jewellery shop worker denies murder and perverting the course of justice.

The prosecution allege that heavily-built Turner strangled Emily and that he was a violent and jealous boyfriend, fearful she was being unfaithful.

He ''went absolutely nuts'' it is claimed, in a culmination of a month of anger and upset over his suspicions she was ''twisting his heart''.

Turner's parents Leigh Turner, 54, and Anita Turner, 51, are also in the dock accused of covering up for their son by destroying evidence and taking items away from the scene of the death. They both deny perverting the course of justice.

In the witness box, Mr Crowe also said that he did not think that Turner ''had the balls'' to kill Emily, who had gone to his house after a night out and was drunk.

But after looking at his witness statement he told the jury that he had been ''shocked and scared'' at the time as he waited outside for a taxi with the couple inside the house.

''I felt confused, I felt relieved to get away. I felt scared for Emily - I didn't know what to do.''

But he also told the court that what he had said to Mr Hawkins had been ''inappropriate'' and it had ''slipped out'' because he had been drinking.

He also told the jury that a few days before the alleged murder he and Turner had practised strangling each other after Turner had said to him: ''How should I do it Tom. How should I kill Emily?''

Calling it ''horseplay'' he said that he had first held Turner around the neck but then Turner had grabbed him put a lot of pressure on his neck.

''I panicked for a bit,'' he told the jury. ''And then I tapped him on the arm and he let go and we laughed it off and had a joke about it.''

He said the pair had also discussed other ways to kill the teenager.

''He just wanted to know how to kill someone I guess. I said I would not know I am not a murderer.

''He was kind of bringing up ideas - should I do this or should I do that. Should I set fire to her in the bedroom with petrol. Should I drown her in a bathtub.''

Other ideas for murder included a drug overdose or Emily choking on her own vomit when she was drunk.

Mr Crowe said: ''He said, 'shall I strangle her?'. I said that if you are going to kill anyone wear gloves - some you see in films or read in various books, the Bill on ITV: you have got those people who try to hide their fingerprints.''

Mr Crowe also said that Turner had told him he had killed Emily in a nightclub in Bournemouth with a lump hammer on May 5 because he had checked her phone and found she was meeting a man there.

Mr Crowe said Turner and some friends drove to the nightclub called Klute and that Turner was very angry and hitting the steering wheel and driving fast.

Turner took the hammer inside the club and Mr Crowe waited in the car outside for three hours until Turner came back.

''He said 'I have done something horrible, dreadful, really, really bad','' explained Mr Crowe.

''He looked on the verge of tears. He said he had killed Emily. He said he had used the hammer to club her around the head six or seven times.

''I believed him. I looked up to him as a really good friend.''

Mr Crowe told the jury the lie went on for some time and other friends were told before Turner said it was a joke.

''I told him he was a lying whatever,'' Mr Crowe said.

Emily, who was a student, had been born in Britain but her family had emigrated when she was nine. She had returned to live with her grandparents in Bournemouth, Dorset, to study when she died.

Proceeding.