Father murdered teen girlfriend and used incense candles to cover up the smell of her body rotting beneath his floorboards

A young father murdered his teenage girlfriend before hiding her body under the floorboards in his home and attempting to cover up the smell with incense candles, a court heard yesterday.

Stephen Devesey, 21, is accused of killing 18-year-old Nicole Cartmell just weeks after she gave birth last year.

Birmingham Crown Court heard Devesey attempted to cover up the smell of the decomposing body by burning incense while joking with his brother about the house stinking 'like rotting meat.'

Young mother Nicole Cartmell, 18, was killed just after giving birth to a baby boy last year

Mother-of-one Nicole gave birth to a baby boy in January last year but was reported missing by her friends on Valentine’s Day.

Her badly decomposed body was discovered in a house where Devesey lived in Whateley Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, on March 2.

Extensive investigations revealed she had been suffocated by someone putting her in an 'arm bar' around her throat.

The court heard Devesey, who is charged with murder, concocted a 'cunning' scheme to cover-up the killing.

Devesey changed his Facebook status a week after she went missing from 'engaged' to 'it’s complicated', the jury was told.

He is also accused of texting Nicole’s mobile phone after she was declared missing to appear concerned about her.

The house in Handsworth where the grisly discovery was made. Her boyfriend Stephen Devesey has been charged with her murder

Prosecutors said he moved in to the upstairs section of his terraced house after prising up the floorboards of his front lounge and dropping her body down to the bricked-up cellar seven feet below.



He then hid the body under rubbish and old clothes.

Timothy Barnes QC, prosecuting, said Devesey called Nicky’s mobile phone after she had been killed in an effort to appear concerned about her welfare.

He said: 'You have to consider what was his intention when he called her and what his mental state was.

'He acted from the outset in a calculating and devious manner designed to allay the suspicions of those who wanted to know where Nicky was and concern to cover up the enormity of what he himself had done.

'You may think this was an intelligent and rational mind at work trying to distance itself from the murder it had just committed.'

Mr Barnes also said that Devesey joked with his brother, James, about the smell in the house.

He told the court: 'James went in to that ground floor front room and there was an overpowering smell like rotting meat.

'He commented to his brother on the rankness of the smell, to which his brother replied ‘it’s damp’.



'It is not how it appeared to James and he jokingly said there could be a body under the floorboards. The defendant replied ‘don’t even joke about that’.'

The court heard Nicole is believed to have called police just days before her death.

A 999 call from a young woman was made from Devesey’s home on February 10. Mr Barnes said a woman is heard speaking to Devesey, telling him she would put the phone down if he opened the door of the property, which could only be opened with a key.

Birmingham Crown Court heard how Devesey, who is charged with murder, concocted a 'cunning' scheme to cover-up the killing

The call was terminated after the woman had asked the other person to open the door six times. The court heard he also flirted with another girl on the internet in the weeks leading up to his arrest.

Mr Barnes said that James, who will appear as a prosecution witness, told police his brother had asked him to go o ut and buy incense sticks when a social worker said they would come to the house.

Devesey was initially arrested on suspicion of fraud after police found he had used Nicole’s cash card to withdraw money on several occasions.

When they searched his home they found her bag, purse and a green jacket she was wearing when she was last seen alive.

This led police to scour the rest of his home and make the discovery under the lounge floor.