A dog walker has told a murder jury of the moment she discovered a dead body in a cemetery.

Corinne McKay had been walking her two Jack Russell-type pets through a graveyard at the Cowgate Hill in Dover when one of them starting barking.

She said: "I looked up that way and thought I could see feet but I wasn't sure. I called the dog back

"It was like someone was just laying there..I didn't know if they had fallen asleep. He had no shoes and his feet were bare."

The dead man was a rough sleeper Pietr Lacheta, 55, known locally at 'Polish Pete' who is alleged to have been murdered.

On trial is Lacheta's lover Claire Lunn,48, and homeless pal Justin Burnett, 38,who have both denied the charge.

Mrs McKay told Maidstone Crown Court: "I met up with another dog walker called Marcia and we both walked towards where I had seen the feet.

"And there was the body of a man. I did recognise the body. He was the chap who lived in one of the tents (in the graveyard).

"His trousers were down by his hips. It appeared to me as if he had been dragged there."

Mrs McKay added: "I immediately thought that this gentleman was deceased and I immediately rang 999.

"While I was on the call, a lady I knew as Claire walked through the gravestones. She said to me: "That's my partner.'."

She said that when she asked Lunn her name she replied: "You are not the f****g police. I am not going to tell you."

"We have rough sleepers here and he is one of those. My dog alerted me to it..."

Lunn , who was holding a bottle of cider, is alleged to have then asked: "What's happened?" before repeating: "That's my partner."

Mrs McKay claimed she asked Lunn not to touch the body but on one occasion she touched Mr Lacheta's big toe.

"She was quite calm...anxious more than upset. She then sat on the gravestone next to the body."

The recording of her six-minute 999 call was then played to the jury when she told the operator:

"We are at the Cowgate Cemetery in Dover and there is a body, deceased.

We have rough sleepers here and he is one of those. My dog alerted me to it, "

She added she could see " a lot of blood" near Mr Lacheta's body.

The prosecution has alleged that the two attacked the victim during a drunken row on September 30 2019 after destroying his tent.

The court heard his partner allegedly told the co-defendant's girlfriend she would kill him one day.

And Burnett allegedly told a health worker it was his alter ego, Jason, who must have killed Mr Lacheta without him knowing.

The trial continues

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