IPSWICH: The aunt of a 15-year-old girl accused of murdering two alcoholics has told of a “frantic” telephone call she received from her niece at about the time of one of the alleged killings.

The woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the girl, said she received a call from her niece between 4.30 and 5.30pm on Tuesday, August 4 last year, as she got off a bus near her home in Ipswich. She described her niece’s demeanour as being “really frantic”.

“You could tell she was frightened and hysterical and she was crying,” the woman said. She said she kept telling the girl to calm down and to tell her what was wrong and the girl had told her: “My friend’s not breathing.” The girl wouldn’t say where she was and had mentioned someone by the name of Grimwood whom she claimed had given her friend some tablets.

The witness said she had asked her niece about calling the emergency services and had then told her that she was there for her if she needed her.

The 15-year-old girl, who cannot be named because of her age, Paul Clarke, 41, of Mountbatten Court, Ipswich, and John Grimwood, 28, of Canham Street, Ipswich, have all denied murdering Rosalyn Hunt, 41, of Victoria Street, Ipswich, between August 1 and 10 last year.

The girl and Clarke have also denied murdering Des Thorpe, 43, whose body was found at a flat in Limerick Close, Ipswich, on August 10 last year.

It has been alleged that Mr Thorpe was killed because he threatened to tell the police what had happened to Mrs Hunt.

Patricia Lynch, prosecuting, told the court that Mrs Hunt, Mr Thorpe, Clarke and Grimwood were all part of the “street drinking” community in Ipswich.

She has alleged that Mrs Hunt probably died on August 4 between 3.30 and 5.30pm when the 15-year-old girl telephoned her aunt. Mrs Hunt’s body was found on August 9.

The trial, which is in its third week, continues today.