Accused revealed he got engaged to Kayleigh before she went missing
A WOMAN said she thought it strange that a man now accused of murder told her he had just had a marriage proposal accepted – and then said his new fiancee had gone ‘missing’.
Mark Brandford, 49, is alleged to have ‘brutally and ferociously’ killed his naked lover Kayleigh Dunning, 32, overnight on December 16-17 in 2019 at his home in Kingston Crescent, North End. He says he had just proposed to her.
Portsmouth Crown Court heard from Magan McDougall, an acquaintance of Brandford, who spoke to the defendant in Betfred in Arundel Street, Portsmouth, on the evening of December 17 when prosecutors say Ms Dunning was already dead.
During the exchange with Colas road sweeper Brandford, the witness was told how Ms Dunning had accepted his marriage proposal - after she had initiated the engagement.
‘Mark said “don’t get jealous but I got engaged yesterday”. I congratulated him and he showed me pictures of the ring and her posing with balloons,’ Ms McDougall said.
‘Mark said it was her idea (to get married) as she wanted to get married and have him “make a good woman out of me”.
But shortly after revealing the pair were engaged, Brandford said she was missing.
‘I asked “how do you know she is missing?” He said he “had a gut feeling” and had “not heard from her”. He had also heard from her parents who were worried,’ the witness said.
‘He said her parents didn’t approve or like him and had only met once despite being together for two years. He believed she might have gone missing after telling them of the engagement.’
Ms McDougall added: ‘I thought it was a bit strange because they got engaged the night before. I wondered why the parents called him if they didn’t like him. I couldn’t put it all together.’
The witness said how Brandford then told her that Ms Dunning could be at her ex-boyfriend’s home.
‘Mark said she was still friends with him and he believed that her ex wanted her back...they had a friendship and (Brandford) was suspicious,’ she said.
Brandford went on to tell Ms McDougall he last saw Ms Dunning at 5am that morning with him saying he thought she may not have gone to work as she was not ‘feeling well’. The defendant also said he had been to the Register Office to book the wedding for March 2020.
The witness said: ‘I didn’t know what to make of it all. It was all a bit messy. I didn’t really know this guy.
‘He didn’t seem too worried. He said he was a bit worried but thought she may have been sorting out things after her engagement.’
Brandford denies murdering Ms Dunning - allegedly with a crowbar after smashing her skull 10 times before leaving her in a ‘bloodsoaked bed’ .
Brandford also denies a charge of revenge porn relating to him being accused of setting up a fake Facebook profile with intimate images of Ms Dunning.