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Husband discovered murder victim’s text to wife

The former husband of the lover of a murdered man said he had asked a relative in the police service to look into the victim weeks before his death.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said he called his relation when he discovered a text from Marcus Gibbings on his wife’s phone that read: “I miss you.”

The witness said he had asked the relative to “check out the number of this guy, Marcus”.

But he told the Supreme Court he never got a response.

The body of Mr Gibbings, 32, was found inside an apartment on Derwent Lane, in Devonshire, on October 26, 2006.

Katrina Burgess, Mr Gibbings’s ex-girlfriend, and Cleveland Rogers, her half-brother, are alleged to have committed the murder. Both deny the charge.

The prosecution earlier alleged that Mr Gibbings was lured to the apartment, which he had shared with Ms Burgess, and was stabbed to death by Mr Rogers.

The witness told the court he may have had an argument with his wife on October 12, 2006, over suspicions of her infidelity, but said Mr Gibbings was not mentioned.

The witness told the court: “We had a conversation, but I cannot recall the date.

“It has been so long. It was about my suspicions, but I never brought up his name or anything.”

But he denied that he had not mentioned the argument to police to avoid suspicion.

The witness also accepted that he did not tell police that his wife had left the house for a half-hour to buy groceries on the evening before Mr Gibbings’s body was found.

He said: “When I came back for my second interview they specifically asked me if she had left the house.

“That question was never asked in the original statement. They just asked me if she was there.”

The witness agreed that the only person who could confirm he was at his home on the night before Mr Gibbings’s body was found, was his now ex-wife.

The court earlier heard that Mr Rogers had confessed his involvement in the murder to two ex-girlfriends.

One told the jury that Ms Burgess had offered Mr Rogers $5,000 to kill Mr Gibbings because he had cheated on her.

The second said Ms Burgess had asked him to “take care” of a guy who had stalked her.

The court also heard that Mr Gibbings had started an affair with a married woman in the weeks before his death.

That woman told the court she spoke to Mr Gibbings for about 40 minutes on October 25 as she bought groceries.

She said she called him again at 10pm, but never got a reply.

The trial continues.

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