THE Tolladine murder trial took a gruesome twist as a witness told the court of the moment she was shown the victim's dismembered body stuffed in a car boot.

Anne Padgett thought it was a "Mafia story" when her cousin, Ashley Shearon, called her to a flat in Avon Road, yards from where drugs dealer Michael Kelly had allegedly been murdered in Teme Road.

He was vomiting while Gerald Edwards, the man who denies murder, was sitting calmly. Shearon took her to the car where she saw a duvet cover with a trainer sticking out.

"I touched the trainer and started to laugh," she said. "I thought it was one of Ashley's Mafia stories."

'I thought it was all a joke'

A WOMAN told a murder trial she laughed when she touched a dismembered body in the back of a car thinking it was part of a practical joke.

Anne Padgett told the jury at Birmingham Crown Court that when her cousin, Ashley Shearon, met her at a Worcester flat and told her there was a dead body in a car outside, she thought it was "one of his fairy stories".

Mrs Padgett told the murder trial that on Tuesday, July 2, last year, Shearon rang her while she was travelling along the motorway saying he needed to see her urgently.

"I told him I couldn't come and he rang me again when I got home," said Mrs Padgett, who Shearon calls Auntie Anne.

Nigel Rumfitt, prosecuting, asked her if Shearon was prepared to tell her what it was about on the phone.

"No. He wanted me to go to Avon Road. I knew it was one of his fairy tales. He lives in a fantasy world," said Mrs Padgett.

She said when she arrived at the flat, there was a navy blue car parked outside.

The court head Shearon let her in to the flat and Gerald Edwards was sitting there "very calm" while Shearon was vomiting.

Mrs Padgett said: "Gerald told me he had a fight and that it was terrible. He said 'this fella came at me with a big axe' and then he showed me his hand and he had a big cut. She added that Edwards said it was 'just a fight'.

Mr Rumfitt said: "Did he explain? What was the state of the other person?"

But Mrs Padgett replied: "Gerald didn't say any more. It was Ashley. He told me there was a chopped-up body in the car outside.

"I didn't believe it. Couldn't believe it. Ashley said it was in the boot of the car.

"I said 'this isn't another one of your fairy tales? I want to go home'."

She said Shearon took her to the car outside and she could see a duvet cover with a large trainer sticking out.

"It was an awful smell. I thought someone had killed a pig.

"I touched the trainer and I started to laugh."

Mr Rumfitt asked her why she believed someone had killed a pig.

"I used to go to the slaughterhouse to get meat for my dog. It smelled like offal."

She said Shearon told her she would have to drive the car.

"But I told him I'm not driving it. I'm going home. I'm extremely hungry," she said.

Gerald Edwards, aged 32, denies murdering his flatmate, Michael Kelly, with an axe in July last year, and then sawing him in half.

Gary Wood, aged 46, of Lowesmoor, denies perverting the course of justice.

Ashley Shearon is awaiting sentence after admitting perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.