An illegal immigrant from Jamaica murdered his girlfriend after discovering she was on the Pill

Court Reporter:

Twisted Kirk Reid, 28, desperately wanted 27-year-old Michelle Napier to have his baby - but strangled her with a phone chord when he discovered she was using contraception.

Jurors trying the case at Southwark Crown Court heard a taped 999 call in which Ms Napier could be heard spluttering for breath as the brute wrapped the cord around her throat.

The mother-of-two was heard pleading "Get off me... get off me" before letting out a piercing screaming seconds before the phone went dead.

Jamaican Reid showed no reaction as a jury convicted him of murder on Friday.

Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith told him: "It will be a life sentence - it's just a question of the minimum term."

Reid - whose IQ is just 69 - murdered Ms Napier at her flat in Lynton Road, Bermondsey, in the early hours of last August 31.

The phone cord and a razor blade was found beside her semi-naked body.

In the weeks before the killing he had confessed to a relative: "I am planning to kill Michelle and have warned my mum not to get upset if I get charged with murder."

Ms Napier met Reid through colleagues and the pair had begun dating in the summer of 2004.

Five months before he killed her, Reid had began telling people his girlfriend was pregnant.

The claim was rubbished by his cousin Lisa, who told him she had seen Ms Napier taking the contraceptive pill.

Prosecutor Sallie Bennett-Jenkins told jurors: "After a time a number of people began joking with the defendant about how long the pregnancy was taking.

"It was after this that Reid made threats about killing his partner."

Reid phoned police on September 1 saying he had discovered Ms Napier's lifeless body.

He was arrested initially as a witness and the following day as a suspect.

The trial heard that Ms Napier had lied to Reid about being pregnant and let him buy baby clothes and a bath.

His father had died and the birth meant a lot to him.

Reid, of Honor Oak Road, Forest Hill, claimed he had no memory of the killing.

Judge Loraine-Smith adjourned sentencing until June 30 for psychiatric reports.

Strangled mum's last call