A FRIEND of one of the men accused of murdering 23-year-old Natalie Jarvis in Swanley was messaged from the boot of a car: "it's him, he's gone mental."

Miss Jarvis was found dead on the ground in Swanley Village Road, Swanley, after suffering more than 20 stab wounds to her neck on October 3 last year.

Thomas Fuller, of Oakley Drive, Eltham, and Adam Whelehan, of Roseberry Drive, Sidcup, both 23, are accused of her murder.

This afternoon Maidstone Crown Court heard how Fuller sent a flurry of Blackberry messages from the boot of Whelehan's car where he was hiding as Whelehan drove Miss Jarvis to Swanley village for a "chat" on the day she died.

Giving evidence, Bridie McCann received a message from Fuller saying: "I'm scared".

Miss McCann, who had been out for a meal in Bexleyheath, replied: "What's happened?"

Fuller wrote back: "it's him, he's gone f***ing mental," before later sending another message saying: "It's all got out of hand, I'm going to get done for it."

Miss McCann repeatedly asked Fuller if he wanted to call the police but he never answered the question.

He had earlier sent a picture message of him in the boot of the car but she didn't believe him.

She told the jury of eight men and four women: "I was in the car with my mum at the time. As you could imagine I thought they were just showing off.

"Not for a second I honestly believed he was in the boot of a car."

She added: "I didn't think he was serious. I was playing into what I thought was a joke."

As time went on she started to worry and Fuller messaged her three times in a row to say "have you got my number, I'm f***ed", but she didn't respond until the morning because she had gone to bed.

Fuller and Miss McCann met at Air and Breathe nightclub in Dartford in June and had met up about five times and regularly kept in contact through Blackberry Messenger.

She told the court: "He said at one point Adam kept saying to him he wanted to kill Natalie, he wanted to get rid of her.

"Tom would say he said to him 'if I kill her will you get rid of the body?'"

According to Miss McCann this question was asked on more than one occasion.

She said: "It was all spoke about like it was not true, as you could imagine people would say every day 'I could kill them'.

"He said he was going to stab her."

Miss McCann said that Fuller had told her he persuaded Whelehan "not to do it" so he could go to his friend's boxing match and celebrate his birthday.

"Adam was getting mad and decided to stop doing it because Tom had a boxing match.

"He would not have been able to have gone if he would have killed Natalie."

Ian Acheson, prosecuting, asked: "Stopped from doing what?"

She replied: "Killing Natalie."

Miss McCann described Fuller as a "really, really nice guy, somebody I got on with well".

She added: "It was not something that seemed real. If I thought it was real, if Tom thought it was real at the time, something would have been done."

Miss McCann did not know Miss Jarvis's name because Fuller and Whelehan only referred to her as JC, because they said she looked like the actor James Corden.

About a month before Miss Jarvis's death Fuller started messaging Miss McCann with questions about contraception, the court heard.

She said: "He went onto say JC had meant to have an implant in her arm, but she was pregnant.

"Tom seemed to think Adam did not like her and he was really angry with her because she was pregnant."

Fuller and Whelehan both deny murder.

The trial continues and is expected to last up to four weeks.