Kayleigh Dunning Portsmouth murder trial: Woman 'still loved' former boyfriend

Kayleigh Dunning, 32, was allegedly beaten to her death by Mark Brandford, 49, after she mistakenly referred to him using a nickname for her her lover Dean Drooney, jurors have been told.

The misnaming sparked the Brandford’s jealous onslaught that left her skull crushed by a heavy instrument, prosecutors have said.

Brandford is accused of lashing out with ‘at least’ 10 blows on Ms Dunning at his Kingston Crescent flat in North End after proposing to her overnight on December 16-17, 2019.

Giving evidence at Portsmouth Crown Court, Mr Drooney said he used to meet up with Ms Dunning twice a week.

The pair had known each other for more than 10 years before splitting up but then entered into a clandestine affair for ‘a number of years’ before she was killed.

‘We didn’t tell anyone about it,’ Mr Drooney told police after her death, the court heard. ‘A lot of people would have their own opinions about us sleeping together.

‘We still loved each other. We were seeing each other a couple of times a week.’

He told the court the pair had a mutual understanding and said: ‘I didn’t have to answer to her and she didn’t have to answer to me.’

In his statement to police he said: ‘I didn’t think she was having sex with anyone else. I loved the girl. I didn’t want her to sleep with anyone else. I wasn’t sleeping with anyone else.’

Mr Drooney told the court he never knew Ms Dunning was in a relationship with Brandford.

‘She never let me know anything was going on,’ he said.

He added: ‘If she was in a relationship with someone else then I wouldn’t be seeing her.’

Asked by Sarah Jones QC, for the defence, if he would feel betrayed by Ms Dunning after finding out about her relationship with Brandford, he replied: ‘Yeah...I just wouldn’t continue seeing her.’

Mr Drooney said he was sent a sex tape of Ms Dunning with Brandford.

‘She denied it was her in the video,’ he said. The witness added he did not believe her but was able to put it out of his mind because they were not seeing each other when he had received it.

The witness told jurors Ms Dunning stayed at his on the night of Saturday, December 14, 2019, before leaving ‘happy as Larry’ the next day. It was the last time they saw each other.

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Ms Dunning sent Mr Drooney a text message on Monday December 16 at 1.27pm, which said: ‘Love you xx.’

That evening at around 8.45pm the pair exchanged heartfelt text messages. ‘Night Noodle, love you,’ Mr Drooney wrote.

‘Night night, love you more Doodle,’ Ms Dunning replied.

The court heard Ms Dunning was reported missing to police by her dad on December 17.

‘I was very scared especially as she didn’t contact her dad - she would always contact him,’ Mr Drooney said.

Despite sending text messages and making numerous calls, Mr Drooney received no reply.

He was then told of her death in the early hours of Wednesday 18 December. ‘I got a call to say she was dead,’ he said.

Brandford denies murder and a charge of revenge porn after allegedly setting up a fake Facebook profile with intimate images of Ms Dunning.

(Proceeding)

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