THREE murder suspects were taking the body of a young Southampton man to be dumped in a skip on an industrial estate when police pulled up alongside, jurors heard.

Two officers told the trio to put the wheelie bins back before driving off. They waited until the officers left and then took the body of Jamie Dack to the site where he was put into a skip and set on fire.

The dramatic revelation came in a prepared statement from Andrew Dwyer- Skeats, who along with Donna Chalk, Lee Nicholls and Ryan Woodmansey, is accused of murder.

In his statement read out at Winchester Crown Court, Dwyer-Skeats described how he had stepped into a fight between Nicholls and Jamie when the latter had apparently “tried on it” with his girlfriend. The pair separated and shook hands, remaining in the flat in Bevois Mews, Southampton, while Dwyer-Skeats, Chalk and Woodmansey went for a night out in Bournemouth.

When he and Chalk returned, they found Nicholls and the body of Dack lying on the kitchen floor, covered in a duvet.

Both Nicholls and the duvet were bloodstained. There was also blood on the carpet and on the walls.

Dwyer-Skeats said he tried to find a pulse and Nicholls told him “I couldn’t let him grass me up”.

He suggested they should call the police but Nicholls refused. Dwyer-Skeats said he and Chalk were panicking and Nicholls pleaded with them “to clean the place up or you’re going to get the same”.

Dwyer-Skeats said he took the threat seriously.

He said: “I knew he had murdered Jamie. I couldn’t think straight, it was like a dream.”

The court heard they decided to get rid of the body and he and Woodmansey got two wheelie bins, one for the body, the other for the carpet.

They were on their way to the Empress Road industrial estate when the police stopped them and told them to put the bins back.

After the officers left, the trio carried on to the estate where Woodmansey helped Nicholls tip the body into the skip before it was set on fire with petrol.

Dwyer-Skeats said: “I ran as soon as I put the carpet in, straight back to the flat followed by Lee and Ryan.

Donna was still there.”

Dwyer-Skeats told detectives how he overheard Nicholls phoning his girlfriend, telling her “I’ve done it for you”.

Dwyer-Skeats’ statement ended: “Myself, Ryan and Donna had no part in the murder of Jamie Dack. I greatly regret helping Lee after I saw the body. I was put under pressure.”

Jamie’s body was discovered burning in the bin on Easter Sunday.

Dwyer-Skeats, 26, and Chalk, 21, both of Bevois Mews, Southampton; Nicholls, 28, of Southampton Street, Southampton and Woodmansey, 32, of no fixed address, deny murder.

The three men have admitted perverting the course of justice by disposing of and setting fire to Mr Dack’s body. Chalk denies that charge.

Proceeding.