Michael Bretton and Craig Hurcombe had both, at different times, been in sexual relationships with Kate Saunders
Craig Hurcombe, 39(Image: Family handout)
The ex-partner of a man murdered in a “cold-blooded execution” with a samurai sword by her former lover described how his disappearance was out of character, a court heard.
Michael Bretton, 41, is accused of using the weapon to kill Craig Hurcombe, 39, in Gurney Slade, Somerset, on January 1 this year.
Bristol Crown Court heard that Bretton and Mr Hurcombe had both at different times been in sexual relationships with Kate Saunders, 40.
Mr Hurcombe and Ms Saunders’s six-year relationship ended in 2023, and she later met Bretton through an online dating site in 2025 and had a “casual sexual” liaison.
A jury has heard that Bretton wanted to formalise this to “boyfriend and girlfriend”, but Ms Saunders did not and ceased contact.
Ms Saunders then rekindled her relationship with Mr Hurcombe, with Bretton “clearly jealous” of this, it was alleged.
Bretton allegedly stalked Ms Saunders and Mr Hurcombe – following them and fitting trackers to their cars.
Prosecutors allege his behaviour escalated and culminated in him murdering the lorry driver at his workplace.
Following Mr Bretton’s disappearance, Ms Saunders was interviewed by police, and she told officers Mr Hurcombe’s mother contacted her asking if she had seen him.
Ms Saunders, of Portishead, Somerset, said Mr Hurcombe’s mother had not seen him for two weeks, and she told her that her son’s boss was also concerned because he had not been to work.
“That’s when I knew it was something because that was very out of character for Craig not to work,” she told detectives.
“Irrespective of what was happening he would always go to work.
“There was a slight realisation that did he go off, or has something happened to him, or did he just want to disappear?”
In the recorded interview, which was played to the jury, Ms Saunders said she had last seen Mr Hurcombe on New Year’s Day, and he was preparing to go to work.
She said they had met up on New Year’s Eve and had a “huge argument” over Bretton, and Mr Hurcombe also confessed to have stalked her.
“We ordered a curry and we sat and watched a film. Then he got angry about the whole situation with Mike,” she told police.
“He kept saying why he couldn’t understand he wouldn’t just leave it, and Mike wouldn’t leave it, as in me, and said I must have really cared for him, and it must have been more than I said it was.
“He said he was going to bed because he had to go to work and then in the morning we spoke a little bit briefly. He seemed to be in a quite a good mood.
“That’s when quite a lot of messages came from him and he said it wasn’t going to work, and I shouldn’t be so hard on him, Mike, because he wanted to get something off his chest to make a fresh start, before we could any further he wanted to make the air clear, new year, new me.
“That Mike wasn’t the one stalking me, it was him, and that over six months ago he had been following me.
“I said something like how and why, and he said at one point he knew I cared for Mike because he had followed us at one point to the Forest of Dean, we did actually go there, so I guessed he had been following us.
“He said that Mike saw him, and that I should go back to Mike. I asked him why he did that, and I don’t know what he exactly said.
“He said why keep pushing it with the police and I said because I was scared.
“He said don’t push it with him. I should be angry with him and things were not going to work, and I should forget him.
“Part of me was angry and upset. I blocked him and deleted some messages and tried to get on with my weekend.”
The court heard Mr Hurcombe, from Devizes, had gone to work at Blanchard’s yard in Gurney Slade on the evening of January 1.
CCTV footage from the yard shows Mr Hurcombe waving to a CCTV camera at 6.26pm as he walked towards his lorry.
He is believed to have been killed a short time later.
Mr Hurcombe was reported missing by his mother on January 10, with his body discovered in a shallow grave in woodland at his work site on January 14.
Bretton, of Shaftesbury, Dorset, denies murdering Mr Hurcombe and stalking Ms Saunders.
The trial continues.
