A MAN suspected of abducting and murdering his former partner told one of her colleagues 'she would live to regret her decision' to split up.

Natalie Harker disappeared on her way to work in October last year and her lifeless body was discovered naked and bruised inside a tent belonging to Andrew Pearson.

Andrea Nolan, who worked with the 30-year-old at Tesco, recounted a conversation she had with the defendant after the couple had split up.

She told jurors sitting at Teesside Crown Court how he described Harker as a 'bit of a one' as he believed she had started seeing someone else.

She said: "He hoped she would live to regret her decision and life has a way of coming full circle."

While another one of Miss Harker's former co-workers at Tesco in Catterick Garrison said when Pearson also worked there he was known as 'Jesus' because of his long hair and beard.

The Northern Echo: Natalie HarkerNatalie Harker

Chrissy Peacock told the court Miss Harker said they had split up because 'she couldn't cope with his issues as well as her own'.

And Gary Palmer, a caretaker at Risedale Sports and Community College where Miss Harker worked as a cleaner, wrote in his statement that she was worried about Pearson following her.

He wrote: "Natalie said to me 'can you do me a favour? If somebody stops me on the hill can you make sure I'm ok'.

"She said she was having trouble with her ex but didn't say what that was."

Jurors also heard how a police officer at the scene where Miss Harker's body was found said it was showing signs of rigor mortis.

The 30-year-old's naked body was cold to the touch and her joints had stiffened up by the time Pearson led officers to where he had set up camp in woodland near his North Yorkshire home.

PC Laura Haley was one of the first officers on the scene after police were contacted by Pearson and his mother, 12 hours after Miss Harker had gone missing on her way to work.

The Northern Echo: Officers at the scene of the suspected murderOfficers at the scene of the suspected murder

The court heard how a 'clearly distressed' Pearson told police that he had pulled her out of a stream after she fell and she was dead when he came around after passing out.

PC Haley said: "The way he was acting, a lot of what he was saying didn't make a lot of sense."

Pearson, of Chestnut Court, Catterick Garrison, denies murder.

The trial, which is listed for two weeks, continues at Teesside Crown Court.