Gary Allen trial: Undercover 'murder confession' played to court

Samantha Class (left) and Alena Grlakova were both strangled, jurors were told

A recording of a double murder suspect telling an undercover officer he had killed before has been played to a jury.

Gary Allen denies killing two women - Samantha Class and Alena Grlakova - 21 years apart.

Sheffield Crown Court heard recordings made by an officer, known as "Ian"', in which the defendant said he had killed Ms Class after paying her for sex.

The undercover policeman was one of seven involved in a 2010 sting.

The Humberside Police operation attempted to gather new evidence linking Mr Allen to Ms Class's murder, for which he was previously acquitted in 2000.

Jurors have heard how the covert team created cover stories and acts of "theatre" to build friendships and gain Mr Allen's trust including burning bloodied clothes and staging illicit deliveries.

'I've done it before'

Giving evidence behind a screen, Ian described how he was with Mr Allen, whom he called Gaz, in a Grimsby pub on 1 December 2010 when he made the admission.

The undercover officer told jurors the conversation related to a cover story Ian had concocted about having "enemies in Holland".

"Mr Allen had been planning to do some work for me, in that he was planning to kill one of my associates abroad," he said.

"During the course of that evening, Mr Allen had turned round and said 'you don't have to worry about me, I've done it before'.

"I stopped him and said 'you don't need to tell me any more' because he'd had a drink and it wasn't the right time to discuss it."

Gary Allen was convicted in 2000 for attacking two sex workers in Plymouth, the court had heard

But five days later, in a conversation recorded on 6 December 2010, which was played to the jury, Mr Allen told him he had not "done anything like that before".

"I'm just saying that violence and all that ain't a problem."

'Habitual liar'

In another conversation recorded on 16 February 2011, jurors heard Mr Allen tell Ian he had "flipped" when Samantha Class threatened to accuse him of rape when a condom had split.

"I killed her and dumped her," he was heard to say.

"But that's just the way I was then, you know what I mean?"

In cross-examination, Mr Allen's barrister Katherine Goddard asked Ian whether he knew the defendant had a habit of "spouting lies", to which he replied: "Yes".

Ian told the court he withdrew from the sting months later after Mr Allen was arrested and convicted for attacking a prostitute in Scunthorpe.

Jurors previously heard Ms Class and Ms Grlakova worked in the sex industry at the time of their deaths and the defendant harboured a hatred of prostitutes.

Ms Class's body was found on a river bank in North Ferriby, East Yorkshire, in 1997.

Mrs Grlakova's body was discovered in a stream in Rotherham in 2019. She had been strangled and her body weighted down.

The 47-year-old was cleared of Ms Class's murder in February 2000, but jurors have heard "significant new evidence" led to a second trial.

The trial continues.