Police searching a car belonging to Canvey murder suspect Ian Jarvis smelt smoke in the vehicle, a court has heard.
Det Con Clive Morris told Chelmsford Crown Court he noticed the smell when he moved a pillow and a sleeping bag which were in the car.
He said: "When I put my head into the car I smelt smoke.
"The smell was not there prior to my having moved the items but it was there after moving them."
Jarvis, 37, of Second Avenue, Canvey, denies murdering 28-year-old Ann Marie Couldridge, his brother Eric's girlfriend, and setting fire to her flat in the island's Hilton Road between May 11 and 14 last year.
The trial continues.
Published Tuesday October 29, 2002
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