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Lucy McHugh (pictured) died after being stabbed and slashed 27 times in a frenzied knife attack in Southampton, a court heard. Stephen Nicholson, 25, who was a lodger at her home, is on trial for her murder

The stepfather of a schoolgirl allegedly murdered by their lodger has revealed he told the accused to move out of his home months before the brutal killing.

Lucy McHugh, 13, died from 'catastrophic bleeding' after she was stabbed and slashed 27 times by a single-bladed knife in Southampton.

Stephen Nicholson, 25, who had been renting the room opposite the girl's, is on trial for her murder in July 2018 after allegedly having a sexual relationship with the child since she was 12. 

Her stepfather Richard Elmes, 22, told Winchester Crown Court that Nicholson was one of his childhood best friends and that he was letting the accused 'sofa surf' at his home in Southampton. 

Mr Elmes, the partner of Lucy's mother Stacey, 31, said: 'In December 2017, we had a discussion that he needed to move out. But it didn't happen.'

He added that Lucy and Nicholson had frequent arguments but they seemed like 'normal, family disputes'.

Mr Elmes added: 'He [Nicholson] didn't deal with her very well. Arguing with Lucy would be like arguing with a brick wall, she wanted to win and he didn't like that.

'On July 22, last year, I was in the garden and I heard an argument. I went inside and told Mr Nicholson he should grab his stuff and leave as the situation was not getting any better.

'As he left, she said in a calm but loud voice 'Well I have got a hold on you anyway'.

'Lucy came to me after that and said she wanted to speak to us when Stacey got back home, but that conversation didn't ever happen.'

Mr Elmes said he had known Nicholson since he was six but that they had been in and out of touch over the years. 

He also told the court he once walked in on Lucy and Nicholson in an embrace but that his friend passed it off as a 'cuddle'.

Lucy's stepfather Richard Elmes (left, pictured today), 22, said she and Stephen Nicholson (right, on CCTV on the day he allegedly stabbed Lucy to death) frequently had 'petty rows'

Mr Elmes said: 'I would say it was like Lucy had a schoolgirl crush on Mr Nicholson.

'There was one occasion when I came downstairs and opened the kitchen door and he was stood stiff as Lucy was giving him a hug. He pushed her away as I walked in.

'He said she was upset and wanted a cuddle but he didn't want to cuddle her.'

The court previously heard Lucy kept a diary and wrote letters about sexual activity with Nicholson, describing him as 'an ass when we aren't having sex'.

Mr Elmes added: 'Lucy was a lovely, bubbly, bright, intelligent girl. She knew what she wanted and knew how to get it.

'She was very particular about how she liked things done, including her makeup. She would not go out without her makeup right. 

'She would always like to be the centre of attention, but would ask how things are or how you were.'

A furious Nicholson told Lucy's mother he would 'pay' a group of girls to beat the youngster up if she kept pestering him at home, the court heard.

In a text message sent just months before he allegedly lured the 13-year-old to secluded woodland and killed her, Nicholson raged about Lucy's supposed obsession with him.

However, prosecutors allege he was in a 'secret sexual relationship' with the youngster at the time.

Stacey White, mother of Lucy McHugh, arrives at Winchester Crown Court on June 20

In a text to Stacey in May last year, Nicholson said: 'Every time I come out my bedroom or the toilet your daughter tries to grab me. When I tell her to piss off she tries to push me down the stairs.

'Next time she does, I am going to throw her down them. Next time she puts her hand over my mouth when I tell her to f*** off, I am going down to her school and paying a group of girls to beat her up.'

The court also heard Nicholson made further complaints around the same time about Lucy getting up early and following him about and coming out of her room in just her underwear. 

Nicholson went back to Lucy's home just hours after allegedly stabbing her to death to borrow power tools from her stepfather, the jury were told.

Mr Elmes said that on the day of Lucy's death, Nicholson had arranged to borrow a jigsaw and a circular saw from him to carry out some work at a shed at the defendant's mother's house. 

Pathologist Basil Purdue, pictured at Winchester Crown Court today, examined the body after it was found at a sports centre

The court heard Lucy was last seen on CCTV footage outside a Tesco store in Southampton, Hampshire, around 9.30am the day she went missing. 

Nicholson, who is alleged to have left his phone at the house of a man he cared for while he met Lucy, then called Mr Elmes just over an hour later at 10.51am and again at 11.46am.

Mr Elmes told the jury that after Lucy had failed to return home by her normal time of 7.30pm on July 25, her mother began searching for her. He added: 'It was complete panic, everyone was distraught.'

He said a note was found that had gone through their washing machine which was entitled 'Abuse'.

Reading from the mostly illegible note, Mr Elmes said: 'Walk away from my sex with him, forced me back in.'

Mr Elmes told the court Nicholson also called to ask him to defrost a rat from his freezer to feed to a pet snake he kept at a friend's house.

He said: 'The first conversation was about getting a rat out of my freezer for him so it would be defrosted by the time he got to our house to feed his snakes.

'The next call was to ask if he could borrow some of my power tools.

'He came round at about 3pm and picked up the power tools. He was with me for about ten to 15 minutes. He didn't seem himself, he seemed more depressed than normal.'

Jurors heard Nicholson called Mr Elmes again the next day, July 26, during which it is alleged he revealed information about Lucy's death that not even her stepfather knew at the time.

Mr Elmes also told jurors Nicholson, who had been his 'best friend', called him in an attempt to 'console' him after Lucy's body was found at Southampton Sports Centre.

He added that the defendant 'weirded him out' because he talked about where her body had been found, which had not yet been published online by the media.

The witness said: 'One thing that weirded me out when he called me, he mentioned on the phone that Lucy's body was discovered opposite where I had had a bike accident.

CCTV footage of the 13-year-old's final movements which showed Lucy, wearing leggings and a white top, walking from her home in the direction of the sports centre at 9am on July 25, 2018

'The location had not been published at that time. I only knew she had been found near the ski slope at the sports centre.

'He also said he was changing phone devices because of him selling cannabis. He didn't want the police to see. He was saying he was concerned about him being found out for dealing.

'He still sounded depressed, he wasn't himself at all, they way he was talking... in the way he was talking he didn't sound himself, it just sounded dark.' 

The court also heard this afternoon social services had carried out an investigation after Lucy told friends she was in a relationship with Nicholson. However, Mr Elmes said he knew nothing about this.

Mr Elmes said that on the Friday, Nicholson had spoken of his concern about talking to the police because he feared he could be found out for dealing cannabis.

Pathologist Basil Purdue, who examined Lucy's body after it was found at Southampton Sports Centre, told the court she suffered almost 30 knife wounds during a frenzied attack, including a cut across her throat and 3ins deep wound to her chest. 

He described the neck wounds as 'fatal' and added she sustained a series of cuts and stab wounds to her neck and upper body, as well as cuts to her hands and lower arms as well.

Police officers speak to neighbours as they search the family home in Southampton last year

The Home Office pathologist said: 'There were three nicks, two were three millimetres in length and one was five millimetres, to the carotid artery.

'Injuries to the carotid artery are very dangerous and someone is going to bleed very, very quickly from it. A young person will bleed very heavily, faint quickly and die shortly after. They are the fatal injuries to Lucy.

'The injuries suggest controlled, repetitive actions by the person who did this while Lucy was immobile. If she was dodging and diving around, the injuries would have been more spread out.

'The cause of death was catastrophic bleeding from a series of injuries.'

Mr Purdue added that internal examinations showed Lucy was not pregnant at the time of her death.

The jury has heard Nicholson 'deleted' a series of Facebook messages between himself and Lucy the night before she went missing in July, last year, and on the morning of her disappearance.

When interviewed by police, he told them Lucy had demanded a meeting with him, telling him she was pregnant. 

But he claimed she was 'becoming obsessed' with him and he blocked her.

Nicholson denies murdering Lucy and is on trial at Winchester Crown Court (pictured)

Prosecutor Mr William Mousley told the court Nicholson had in fact arranged to meet Lucy in woodland, where he then stabbed her to death and left her body.

During the hours after the attack, Nicholson is then alleged to have started using a new mobile phone and hid his old one, reset his Facebook password and lit a bonfire to destroy the trainers he was wearing.

He is accused of also dumping a hoodie and trousers that were covered in Lucy's blood in a small stream while cycling home from the sports centre.

Nicholson, of Southampton, denies murdering Lucy and three charges of raping her when she was 12.

He also denies two counts of sexual activity with her when she was 13 and a further count of the same charge relating to another victim, who was 14 at the time, five years earlier in 2012.

The trial continues. 

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