THE Clement Desmier murder trial jury was yesterday told that the accused man, David Lawler, had been sentenced to ten years imprisonment for slashing someone's throat, nine days after the killing.

Bradford Crown Court has heard that Lawler's former girlfriend, Antoinette Wilson, told police he had confessed to her that he and Nathan Jefferson had murdered Mr Desmier, a 68-year-old grandfather known as Butch, who was asphyxiated and stabbed to death in his armchair, at his home in Rowlestone Rise, Greengates, Bradford, in August 2012.

Lawler, 33, of Bradford, has pleaded not guilty to murder.

His barrister, Richard Carey-Hughes QC, questioning Miss Wilson yesterday, said: "On September 1, nine days after Butch was murdered, David Lawler slashed someone's throat open, and you know he got ten years imprisonment for that offence, don't you?"

Miss Wilson said: "I know he went to prison for it."

Mr Carey-Hughes suggested Miss Wilson was confused about what she was told about each offence.

But she told the court: "That's incorrect. I know exactly what he (Lawler) told me. He told me he and Nathan murdered Butch. I will never forget him saying that to me."

Miss Wilson added: "Dave told me he went behind Butch, put the pillow over his face and Nathan stood at the front of him, stabbing him."

She said Lawler told her it was for money but they did not get any.

Miss Wilson said: "When they were there, they had to pick up an ornament for Michael (Lawler's uncle Michael Lucas), which meant something to Michael. Dave told me Nathan got the ornament and gave it to Michael."

She said her life had been a "muddle" and a "living nightmare" since Lawler had confessed to the killing.

Miss Wilson said she had been told she was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and as a result she suffered memory loss.

She admitted smoking cannabis to help her sleep at night at the time of the murder.

But she said: "It got worse when Dave told me what he and Nathan did to Butch. My world fell apart that day."

Mr Carey-Hughes suggested the time for her to have told the police was when another man was arrested and charged with the murder.

She replied: "I wish I did but I was scared for myself, my kids and my friend's kids.

"I was just trying to keep my kids safe."

She denied making up the allegations and claimed Lawler grabbed her by the throat and threatened that she would be gang raped and her "face taken off" with acid if she opened her mouth.

At the start of the trial the jury was told that Nathan Jefferson, 20, of Springwell View, Holbeck, Leeds, had pleaded guilty to Mr Desmier's murder.

The trial continues.