Blue singer denies crowbar claim at nanny murder trial

POP star Duncan James yesterday denied using a crowbar to threaten the landlord of a woman accused of murdering her French nanny.

The singer with boyband Blue gave written evidence at the Old Bailey trial of Sabrina Kouider and Ouissem Medouni over the death of 21-year-old Sophie Lionnet.

The defendants killed the au pair after becoming obsessed with her supposed link to 35-year-old Kouider’s exboyfriend Mark Walton, founder of Boyzone, the jury has heard.

The pair admit burning Sophie’s body in their garden in Southfields, south London, but deny her murder.

In his evidence, Medouni, 40, claimed Kouider had become “good friends” with Mr James when she lived in Queensway, west London.

Orlando Pownall QC, defending, asked about an incident when police were called to Kouider’s flat. Mr Pownall said the landlord complained she and a husband or partner had threatened him with a crowbar.

Medouni claimed that Kouider told him it was Mr James, who lived nearby.

But in a statement read to the court, Mr James, 40, said: “I can categorically state I met Sabrina only once together with Mark Walton in 2012. I have never lived in or near Queensway and was never involved in any incident with a crowbar.”

Algerian-born fashion designer Kouider told the court she and Medouni had an “up and down” relationship.

“He was with me for sex, nothing else, and money,” she said.

He took her virginity then told friends about it, called her “dumb”, slapped and kicked her, she said.

Their problems came to a head during a trip to Barcelona in 2011. While there, they went to a party attended by future US President Donald Trump, then split up.

Kouider described how she met Mr Walton in a bank and he paid her to help with his songwriting. As their romance blossomed, he moved into her Queensway flat, the court heard.

But Kouider told jurors he became jealous and called her names.

She claimed he pushed her while she was pregnant and she lost the baby.

She split up with Mr Walton in 2012 and turned to Medouni for support.

Earlier Kouider’s ex-boyfriend Anthony Francois described her as charming and manipulative with a violent streak. The trial continues. Blue star Duncan James was giving evidence at trial of Sabrina Kouider for murder of nanny Sophie, inset