Partner returned from buying cigarettes to find Jordan Marples-Douglas stabbed in Sheffield home
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Danielle Whiting and Jordan Marples arrived home at Woodthorpe Road, near Richmond, Sheffield, after a trip to Meadowhall but by the time Ms Whiting had gone for cigarettes and returned Mr Marples-Douglas had been fatally injured.
Kath Goddard QC, prosecuting, told a Sheffield Crown Court trial Mr Marples-Douglas had allegedly been repeatedly stabbed and murdered.
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Hide AdThe court heard on March 10 how Ben Jones, aged 26, formerly of Archdale Road, Manor, Sheffield, and his step-brother Aaron Johnson, aged 22, of Mawfa Crescent, Norton, Sheffield, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of the 23-year-old.
Ms Goddard QC, prosecuting, claimed Mr Marples-Douglas died as a result of a drug-debt owed to Mr Johnson and an arrangement had allegedly been made for Mr Jones and another man to enforce the debt.
CCTV showed Mr Jones and the other man arriving and leaving Mr Marples-Douglas’s home on March 6, 2020, according to Ms Goddard, before friends of Mr Marples-Douglas’s partner found him in his bedroom.
Ms Goddard said: “Danielle Whiting and Mr Marples-Douglas went out for a meal and returned home at 7.30pm. Almost immediately, Ms Whiting nipped out to go to the shop to buy cigarettes and got in a car and drove in the direction of the shop and that left Mr Marples-Douglas at home on his own.”
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Hide AdA neighbour called Miss Whiting to say the couple’s dog had got outside and Ms Whiting feared the house had been burgled and returned asking two friends to check.
Ms Goddard said: “There in the bedroom they found Mr Marples-Douglas in a bad way bleeding from his nose and apparently covered in blood. Paramedics were called and they arrived very quickly.”
The paramedics tried CPR and noticed blood pumping out of his chest but he was later pronounced dead.
Ms Goddard said CCTV showed Mr Jones and the other man arriving and leaving Mr Marples-Douglas’s home on March 6, 2020, and when Ms Whiting had initially driven away she had passed Mr Jones.
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Hide AdMr Jones and the other man had allegedly been seen in the back garden, according to Ms Goddard, before they allegedly forced their way in.
Ms Goddard said Mr Jones’s father later spotted a knife outside his property and he reported his car – allegedly used by his son - had been torched and police found another knife in the vehicle.
The other man’s girlfriend, Dina Aweimrin, aged 22, of Oakdale Road, Nether Edge, admitted booking flights for him to Dubai from where he is believed to have flown to Somalia and remains at large.
She claims she thought he had a poorly relative and claims she had no knowledge of Mr Marples-Douglas’s death.
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Hide AdMs Aweimrin has pleaded not guilty to assisting an alleged offender.
Mr Jones, of no fixed abode, claimed he had been to the home of Mr Marples-Douglas to buy drugs and the other man had hit and chased Mr Marples-Douglas who swung a machete while the other man had a knife.
He also claimed he had tried to disarm Mr Douglas-Marples.
Mr Johnson declined to answer any questions from police.