A MAN accused of trying to cover up his friend’s alleged involvement in a murder googled the victim the day before he was brutally beaten in an attack which led to his death, despite having never met him.

Triston Biddlecombe, along with his wife Enderlein, are both on trial for assisting alleged murderers Scott Swift and Joseph Smith by washing and burning clothes they were wearing after the fatal assault on Michael Beckwith in Barrack Lane, Harwich, on July 31 last year.

A transcript of Biddlecombe’s interview with Det Con Lee Taylor after his arrest was read out at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday.

After he was told police knew he had looked Mr Beckwith up on Facebook, he said he was curious despite having never met or interacted with him.

He said: “He came up on Facebook as somebody I might know and being told what I had about the person I looked him up.

“It just caught my attention I guess.”

It is alleged Rebecca Ryan, 22, of Hilltop Rise, Weeley, planned the attack on her ex-partner Mr Beckwith which was then carried out by another ex-boyfriend Swift, 27, of Station Road, Dovercourt, and Smith, 18, of Canning Street, Harwich. All deny murder.

Ryan, having originally been interviewed as a witness to the attack is also charged with perverting the course of justice.

On the night of the assault, both Swift and Smith had been at the Biddlecombe’s home in East Street, Harwich, before leaving separately.

When Smith returned, Biddlecombe said he had offered him a shower and to wash his clothes because he seemed shaken up, but he did not know why.

He said: “I asked him what was up but he said he was fine. I told him to go and have a shower and sort yourself out and he could have something to eat with us.

“He jumped at the chance to have a shower and and I put his clothes in the wash and let him have some of my bits.”

Neighbours had seen Triston, 24, and Enderlein, 20, having a bonfire in their garden in the days after the assault but he claimed it was something they regularly did.

Mr Beckwith died in hospital three days after he was attacked. All five defendants deny the charges.

  • The trial continues.