A woman was heard screaming "there's no way I can get out" from the balcony of her flat moments before she was allegedly strangled to death by her boyfriend, a court has heard.
Courtney Boorne died, aged 20, on December 23 last year after being found unresponsive at the flat which she shared with her partner Liam Cain, on Quarry Green Heights, in Kirkby. He is currently standing trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of her murder.
The jury were today played a recording of a police interview with a witness who dialled 999 after reportedly hearing the "conscientious" care worker screaming from the balcony of her top floor apartment. The witness, who was also an occupant of the complex, had been outside putting bin bags into the communal bins at the time.
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In the video, she said: "As I got to where the bins were, I heard a woman shouting 'please can you ring the police? I need help'.
"She said 'the whole place is locked up, there's no way I can get out. He's been choking me and he's been battering me'."
The girl stated that she then heard the woman screaming "ah, get off me" and was no longer able to see the figure on the 14th storey balcony after the window "slammed shut". She continued: "She was very frantic, very upset, very scared - I didn't know what to do.
"She was like, 'please can you ring the police? I need help.
"He's been choking me. He's been battering me.
"He's not letting me out, everywhere's locked. I need help."
Jurors were also read a statement from John Bennett, who reported he had heard "shouting and screaming from the next block of flats". He said: "It was coming from the top floor flats.
"I was having a cigarette on my balcony. As I went out for my smoke, I heard a girl scream 'I need to get out, he won't let me out'.
"The screaming was horrible, so loud. It sounded unreal.
"There were no words, just one long scream for about 30 seconds - screaming continuously. The screaming stopped and didn't restart again after this, I thought someone must have got the girl out."
The account of a police officer meanwhile described how he and his colleagues had to force entry to the property using a saw and an enforcer ram after their knocks at the door went unanswered. Cain was then found "kneeling on the living room floor, crying uncontrollably".
The 19-year-old was initially arrested on suspicion of a section 18 assault after Ms Boorne was found unconscious on a bed in the bedroom. He was heard to say: "My head isn't right, I need to get out of this flat."
Cain was taken into custody at Copy Lane Police Station and was further arrested on suspicion of murder at 7.15pm following his girlfriend's death. At this, he replied "I didn't do it" and started crying again.
A nurse who examined him during the evening of Christmas Day was also called to give evidence on Tuesday. The defendant was said to have been "complaining of a pain to the back of his head", but had no "visible injuries" to this area - with the healthcare worker noting a small number of scratches and bruises to his face, as well as two "red marks" to his chest.
Gordon Cole KC told the jury of four men and eight women during the prosecution's opening on Monday that Ms Boorne had phoned her mum Cheryl shortly before 3.30pm on December 2022. In this call, she told her mother "if she didn't hear from her within an hour to call the police, because something was going on".
Around an hour later, another neighbour rang 999 reporting that she could see a woman in an apartment opposite "screaming and climbing onto the window ledge". Mr Cole added: "She said that the female appeared to be shouting at someone inside the flat.
"Courtney Boorne was heard to shout 'please'. She was crying and she was shouting, 'he has all the doors locked and he won't let me out'."
Officers then attended the scene shortly before 5pm. They discovered Ms Boorne unresponsive with "visible marks to her neck".
She was rushed to Aintree Hospital, but was pronounced dead at 7.02pm. A post-mortem investigation later found that she had suffered a cardiac arrest "because of the asphyxia, the strangulation, the smothering of her by this defendant".
Before he was detained, Cain had sent a text to his dad saying: "I love you the world, everyone. I'm so sorry, tell everyone."
He denies murder, maintaining that he acted in "reasonable self-defence". The trial continues.
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