TWO teenagers accused of brutally beating a North-East father before stabbing him to death bragged to friends they had ‘left him looking like the elephant man’, a jury has been told.

Zoe Warren and Kieran Adey, both 19, who are on trial for the murder of Mark Shaw, allegedly beat him with a pool cue and golf club, bit him and put a belt around his neck while he was tied up.

The 29-year-old died from a single stab wound, but a post mortem examination found he had 80 injuries to his head, torso and limbs.

His body was found on his own bed at his home on Pine Street in Grange Villa, near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, before Christmas.

Nick Dry, opening the case for the prosecution at Newcastle Crown Court, said: “It is the Crown’s case that the offence was committed by them both together.

“A joint offence with each present and participating in that brutal and sustained attack upon Mark Shaw, encouraging one another and each intending, at the very least, that serious harm be done to Mr Shaw.”

The court heard Mr Shaw, who was known as ‘Sharky’ and originally from Great Lumley, had lived in Grange Villa for around a year and had only recently started going out with Miss Warren.

Mr Adey, the son of a local scrap man, lived around the corner from him and they were friends.

It is said their Facebook pages showed they socialised, but also evidence of threats of violence between the two over unpaid debts.

A few days before he died Mr Shaw reported Mr Adey to police after he allegedly smashed his windows with a hammer for not repaying money.

Mr Adey was said to be angry with Mr Shaw for ‘grassing him up’ while Miss Warren was said to be annoyed he had spent her last £10 on heroin.

The court was told all parties were drinkers and takers of recreational drugs, including amphetamines, cannabis and cocaine.

On the evening of December 16, Mark Shaw had taken heroin and overdosed prompting Miss Warren to call an ambulance and administer first aid until paramedics arrived and resuscitated him.

As they attended, the jury heard Mr Adey was at the open door shouting and calling him a ‘f***ing smack rat’.

Ambulance crews left around 10pm on December 16.

Mr Shaw’s body was found was by police at 6pm the following day after concerns for his safety were raised by a friend’s mother who had heard he had been attacked.

Detectives have pieced together what is believed to have happened in between from the defendants’ interviews, friends’ accounts, social media postings, text messages and forensic evidence.

At around midnight it is said the pair visited friends’ house in Grange Villa, having already begun their torture of Mr Shaw.

Mr Dry said: “Adey asked if he could wash his hands which were clearly covered in blood.

“Adey explained that he had given some lad ‘a good kicking’ he was given some water to wash his hands in the back yard and there were cuts visible to the knuckles of both hands.

“It is the Crown’s case that Adey and Warren returned to 47 Pine Street where further and more serious violence was visited upon Mark Shaw by both of them.”

Miss Warren is said to have sent a false message to her mother at 6.35am on December 17 claiming a man had died in her arms of a heroin overdose.

She also allegedly messaged a friend, claiming Mr Shaw was in hospital while trying to source drugs.

The prosecution claims Mr Adey was seen coming back from a wooded area at 9.15am where items said to be involved in the murder were later recovered.

The jury was told Mr Adey, while with Miss Warren, confessed to what they had done to a friend.

Mr Dry said: “He said they had left but then returned when he had beaten, kicked and tied Mark up with a dog toy and put a belt around his neck.

“Zoe had been hitting Mark with the thick end of pool cue. He had either picked up a knife or been handed it by Zoe and stabbed Mark.

“He remembers him saying: ‘We’ve done what we’ve done and left him looking like the elephant man’.”

When police found Mr Shaw’s body on his bed, his legs were tied at the ankles.

Mr Dry said there was evidence he had been gripped by the jaw and had a ligature applied to his neck in a life-threatening way.

He had been punched or kicked multiple times, bitten three times and struck with a ‘rod-shaped’ weapon up to six times.

He said evidence shows he had been forcibly restrained and possible injected intravenously against his will.

Mr Shaw was stabbed twice in the back and a post mortem examination concluded one of those wounds killed him.

A Home Office pathologist identified more than 80 injuries on his body.

The jury was told DNA from both defendants was found on the ankle ties used to bind their victim. Mr Adey’s saliva was found in the bite marks, Mr Dry said.

Mr Adey was arrested in Washington on Sunday, December 18, at 5pm. He was with his mother and had spoken to a solicitor.

Miss Warren was initially interviewed as a significant witness on the same day but was arrested on suspicion of murder before she was released.

The jury was told she was rearrested in March after a new partner went to police and told them she had confessed to her role in the killing.

Miss Warren, of Hexham, Washington, and Mr Adey, of Queen Street, Grange Villa, both deny murder.

Miss Warren denies a second charge of witness intimidation, which relates to a letter allegedly sent from prison to the former partner she blamed for informing police of her alleged confession.

The trial, which is expected to last eight to ten days, continues.