Bernadette Walker: Man accused of teen murder brainwashed ex, jury told

Prosecutors allege Bernadette Walker was killed by the man she called "Dad"

The mother of a missing teen said her murder-accused ex-partner "brainwashed" her, forcing her to send messages from her daughter's phone, a court heard.

Bernadette Walker, 17, was last seen when Scott Walker picked her up from his parents' Peterborough home in July 2020 and is presumed dead.

Bernadette's mother Sarah Walker said Mr Walker, who Bernadette alleged abused her, was "terrified of going to prison", Cambridge Crown Court heard.

Mr Walker, 51, denies murder.

Prosecutors allege Mr Walker - whom Bernadette called "Dad" but was not her biological father - killed her to silence her claims that he sexually abused her.

It is alleged he and Ms Walker, 38, then formed an "unholy alliance" to cover up her death.

Scott Walker claimed Bernadette (above) ran off when he stopped to roll a cigarette

Ms Walker told police after her arrest in September that her former partner had put a pillow over a baby's face on two occasions and put his hands around a boy's neck.

She told detectives: "This was a man who threatened me. He has threatened to kill my partner and slit the dog's throat."

Jurors heard that Mr Walker told Ms Walker that Bernadette, also known as Bee, "ran off" when he had stopped the car to roll a cigarette on 18 July, the day she was last seen.

Later that afternoon, Ms Walker said, he made her send texts from Bernadette's phone and delete messages that accused him of abusing her.

"He said he was terrified of going to prison," Ms Walker told police.

"He was telling me that that he was innocent, that he didn't touch her, and I kind of like believed him at the time."

Ms Walker also told officers: "I don't know what happened in the car. I just know what happened afterwards. I just know he forced me to send some messages."

Bernadette Walker's body has never been found despite police searches

Asked to describe what Bernadette had said about Mr Walker abusing her, Ms Walker told officers: "It was a text message.

"She said for a while now Dad's been doing stuff to me, and there was a camera in the bathroom or something, and he'd been videoing her and touching her and it gets worse.

"I just didn't believe that he could do that. I know that he's abused me. I didn't think he could do that to his own children."

The court heard she was then asked what she now thought, to which she replied: "I think he might have hurt her now… I don't want her to be dead. I don't want to accept that."

Bernadette was last seen after visiting her grandparents' home

The detective put it to her that she had developed a cover story with Mr Walker, asking: "She hasn't been gone for days, yet already you're starting to come up with a story. Why would you do that?"

Ms Walker replied: "Because I was scared for the kids and they were going to get taken away.

"I felt I couldn't get out of it… because I'd already sent those text messages. He brainwashed me. I'm sure at that point I still believed she'd ran off."

Ms Walker has admitted sending some messages from Bernadette's phone and providing false information to the police.

She denies two further counts of perverting the course of justice.

Mr Walker denies murder and perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.