Jodie Willis is accused of 'commissioning' her ex-boyfriend Martin Stanislaus to kill another of her ex-partners, Lee Gillespie (pictured), after he embarked on a new relationship, which made her jealous

A woman who claimed an ex-boyfriend got her pregnant arranged for him to be stabbed to death in a graveyard by another one of her ex-partners, a court heard today.

Jodie Willis is accused of 'commissioning' her ex-boyfriend Martin Stanislaus to kill another of her former partners, Lee Gillespie, after he embarked on a new relationship, which made her jealous.

Scotsman Mr Gillespie, 26, was stabbed 15 times in the brutal attack in the grounds of All Saints Church in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, at around 9pm on August 22 last year.

The stabbing was 'delivered with great force' and Mr Gillespie died from the injuries he sustained.

Reading Crown Court heard today that although 38-year-old Stanislaus is accused of carrying out the stabbing, Willis and Lee Burns, a man she was living with at the time, were secondary parties as they helped organise the violence.

All three have been charged with murder and perverting the course of justice, which they all deny.

The jury was told that 36-year-old Willis, who already had a child with Stanislaus, ordered the murder of Mr Gillespie over the 'bitterness and resentment' she felt over a 'partner swap.'

The court heard Mr Gillespie had formerly enjoyed a relationship with Willis but the pair had split up and he had embarked on a new romance with Lea Sinclair.

At around the same time, Willis – who was said to be jealous of her ex-boyfriend's new relationship – was apparently seeing Nick Baker, the former boyfriend of Ms Sinclair.

Mr Baker was living at Willis' address, together with the third defendant Lee Burns.

Prosecutor Alan Blake told the jury that Burns led Stanislaus and Willis to the graveyard where Mr Gillespie was eventually killed and all three defendants confronted him before he was stabbed.

It came after an apparent argument earlier in the day between Willis, Mr Gillespie and Ms Sinclair, during which Willis claimed she was pregnant with Mr Gillespie's child.

That row led to Willis ordering Stanislaus to attack Mr Gillespie in retaliation, the jury was told.

Mr Blake told the jury that the defendants had gone to the home Mr Gillespie shared with Ms Sinclair and then wrecked it when they discovered the couple weren't home.

They then went to the churchyard where they found Mr Gillespie and stabbed him to death, the court was told.

Mr Blake told the court: 'It's the Crown's case that Jodie Willis organised an attack on Lee Gillespie that evening in revenge for his behaviour towards her, perhaps during and particularly after their relationship.

'The principal means of this attack - the one who executed the violence - was her previous partner and the father of her child, Martin Stanislaus.'

The pair had been estranged from one another for a number of years but they had recently re-established contact with one another, Mr Blake said.

Brutally attacked: A police officer is pictured at the scene where Mr Gillespie, 26, was stabbed 15 times in an attack in the grounds of All Saints Church in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, on August 22 last year

He told the jury of eight women and four men: 'Inflamed by the various allegations made by Jodie Willis about how her ex-boyfriend had treated her, Martin Stanislaus travelled to High Wycombe that evening and, the Crown says, used a knife to inflict fatal violence on Lee Gillespie - a man he apparently didn't even know.

'While it was Stanislaus who stabbed Lee Gillespie, Jodie Willis and Lee Burns are indicted as secondary partners to that murder. In other words, they share responsibility for the attack.

'It was an attack Jodie Willis had commissioned in the first place by recruiting Stanislaus to come to Wycombe. It was Burns who led the way to the churchyard where Stanislaus launched his attack, in a place where Willis and Burns had seen Mr Gillespie earlier that day.'

Mr Gillespie was in the churchyard with two friends when he was approached by the three defendants at 8.45pm.

Mr Blake told the court: 'He sprinted off in the opposite direction, pursued by the others.

'However he tripped over a low wall that ran round a lawned area and fell over. As he sought to turn himself over on the ground, he was set upon by the lead male - the Crown say that is the defendant Martin Stanislaus - and repeatedly stabbed in the chest, head and upper limbs.

'The female and other male stopped on the grass a few metres from where Lee had fallen.

'Mr Stanislaus turned away from Lee on the ground. When he tried to say something, he returned and delivered a further two stabs in the area of the upper chest with a large knife.'

Mr Blake told the court that there had been bad blood between Willis and Mr Gillespie for some time, but their feud violently erupted after they got into an argument earlier on in the day of the attack.

Scotsman Lee Gillespie, 26, was stabbed 15 times in the brutal attack in the grounds of All Saints Church in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire (pictured), at around 9pm on August 22 last year. The stabbing was 'delivered with great force' and Mr Gillespie died from the injuries he sustained, Reading Crown Court heard

He said: 'The relationship between Lee Gillespie and Lea Sinclair wasn't long established. They had been together for a few weeks, perhaps a couple of months, before they were parted by Lee's death.

'Prior to commencing his relationship with Lea, Lee had been in a relationship with another woman - the second defendant, Jodie Willis - for some years. Following the break up, it's evident there had been some tension between the pair.

'Before getting together with Lee Gillespie, Lea Sinclair had herself been in a relationship with a man called Nick Baker. At the time of the stabbing he was staying at Jodie Willis' address, together with another man, the third defendant in this case, Lee Burns.

'It was Lea Sinclair's belief, rightly or wrongly, that her previous boyfriend had formed a new relationship with Jodie Willis. There had effectively been a partner swap.

'Lee Gillespie's decision to change partners from Jodie Willis to Lea Sinclair was a source of considerable bitterness and resentment to Jodie.

It's the Crown's case that Jodie Willis organised an attack on Lee Gillespie that evening in revenge for his behaviour towards her, perhaps during and particularly after their relationship Prosecutor Alan Blake

'She had a low regard for Lea, and despite the difficulties there may have been in the past between herself and Lee Gillespie, she made it obvious to those who knew them both that she still wanted him.'

Mr Blake said there had been an earlier argument between Ms Sinclair and Willis and Burns the same day outside a McDonald's restaurant where Ms Sinclair frequently went busking.

Mr Blake said: 'She [Willis] made a number of comments towards her, including "he'll never love you like he loved me", before adopting a more aggressive tone and saying, "do you know who you're f******with?"

Willis then walked to the nearby churchyard of All Saints Church, where she began drinking and became embroiled in an argument with two homeless people.

Mr Blake told the jury: 'She was speaking mainly about Lee Gillespie, claiming she was pregnant with his child. She had told her baby's dad - the Crown say that is Martin Stanislaus - and the baby's dad wasn't happy about this.'

Mr Gillespie came to the churchyard and Ms Sinclair found him arguing with Willis when she went there at midday.

Mr Blake said: 'Jodie Willis took out her phone and began to film Lea, threatening to put the footage on Facebook with a reference to her being Lee's slut, and other abusive terms.

'Mr Baker and Lee Burns were, says Lea, egging her on. Lea Sinclair stood up and tried to strike Jodie, but a mutual friend intervened.'

Mobile phone records show Willis and Stanislaus then became engaged in series of texts and phone calls with each other from 3pm, jurors were told.

Willis also phoned Stanislaus's sister-in-law Adella, who described the defendant as 'screaming incoherently down the phone at her.'

Stanislaus and Willis made arrangements to meet up, with Stanislaus telling his mother his co-defendant was 'screaming down the phone that she was going to kill herself' and he had to see to her.

Prosecutor Alan Blake told the jury that Lee Burns, a man Jodie Willis was living with at the time, led Stanislaus to the graveyard where Mr Gillespie was eventually killed. Police are pictured at the scene last August

He travelled to the home Willis and Burns shared with Mr Baker in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, from his home in Ealing, west London, via train while carrying a knife, Mr Blake said.

The court heard Stanislaus had the knife in a sheath which was attached to two pieces of string, allowing him to wear the weapon like a rucksack underneath his clothing.

He went to Willis' home and then went with her, Burns and Mr Baker to the railway station via a Sainsbury's supermarket for an unsuccessful attempt at buying a pair of gloves.

Mr Blake said this was a 'surprising purchase' as it was mid-August.

He added Stanislaus made further unsuccessful attempts at getting a pair of gloves from the taxi office at Beaconsfield station, before they all boarded a train to High Wycombe.

When they got off in Wycombe they headed to Ms Sinclair's home in Queens Road but found no one inside.

They broke in and ransacked the house, Mr Blake said, smashing a television, tearing open a sofa with a knife and wrecking a set of drawers.

Willis's fingerprints were found on one of the drawers, while Stanislaus's blood and DNA were found after he picked up a significant injury while slashing the sofa, the jury was told.

Mr Baker remained outside while the flat was trashed before they all headed off into Wycombe town centre to find Mr Gillespie.

Mr Blake said he was not involved in the plot to kill Mr Gillespie, telling the jury it was Mr Baker's belief his friends were simply going to 'have words' with him.

After the killing Stanislaus and Burns got the next train out of Wycombe and went back to Willis's home in Beaconsfield, where the killer removed his clothing and buried it in the garden alongside the knife, Mr Blake told the jury.

Willis went to Mr Baker's family house in High Wycombe and spent the night there, discarding the green dress she had worn to the scene of the killing in nearby undergrowth.

Attempts to hide the clothing they had worn at the time of the killing led to all three defendants being charged with perverting the course of justice.

Stanislaus is also charged with possessing a blade in a public place. The three defendants - including 38-year-old Burns, now of Ealing, west London - deny all the charges.

Mr Blake told the jury: 'As the blows rained down on Lee Gillespie, some witnesses suggest Willis sought to get Stanislaus to stop. She may very quickly have come to regret what they had done, and the violence she had set in motion, but by then it was too late.

'The subsequent regret is no defence to a charge of murder.'