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Keeley Bunker: Man accused of raping and killing 'friend' he walked home after night out

A man who was "trusted" to walk his female friend home after a night out raped and murdered her, a court has heard.

Keeley Bunker was discovered face-down in a pool in a park in Tamworth, Staffordshire, in September last year - just days after her 20th birthday.

Her body was found by her uncle hours after she was reported missing, Staffordshire Crown Court heard.

Jurors were told there was evidence Ms Bunker - who was 4ft 11in and weighed six-and-a-half stone - had been strangled.

Wesley Streete, 20, of no fixed abode, has been accused of raping and killing Ms Bunker after telling the victim's best friend he would walk her home safely.

Prosecutors allege Streete tried to cover up her body with branches and had told "lie after lie", claiming she was still alive when they parted ways.

On the evening of 18 September, Ms Bunker had been to a concert at Birmingham's 02 Institute to see rapper Aitch with a close female friend.

The friends then arranged to go clubbing afterwards with Streete, who was described as "very drunk" at the club.

He was having "three drinks for every one" the girls had and was downing double vodka Red Bulls, jurors were told.

At the end of the night, the group took a taxi back to Tamworth and Ms Bunker's friend offered her a bed, suggesting she could "walk home later in the morning", said prosecutor Jacob Hallam QC.

Mr Hallam said the victim had "tragically" refused, saying she was "tired and wanted to sleep in her own bed".

She allegedly told her friend: "I've got Wes, Wes lives near me, Wes will walk me back, it'll be fine."

But Ms Bunker did not return home in the morning - after what should have been a 20-minute walk - causing her family to become increasingly worried about her.

She had not been to a job interview she was due to attend and was not answering her phone.

Her father reported her missing at about 5.30pm and search parties were sent out for her.

Ms Bunker's body was found by her uncle, Jason Roberts, at about 9pm that night.

Jurors heard he had screamed "No!" when he found her face-down in the water with her clothing "in disarray".

"During the course of that Thursday - a day of mounting dread for the people who loved Keeley - [Streete] had been telling people, Keeley's family, her true friends and the police, that he had walked her to a telephone box near his home earlier that morning," said Mr Hallam.

"And there they had parted company. He even showed police the route that he said that they had taken and where they parted. It was a lie.

"CCTV was found that showed it was a lie. Analysis of his telephone showed it was a lie. DNA showed it was a lie."

The prosecutor added: "Because the truth, we suggest on behalf of the prosecution, was that he had taken Keeley Bunker's life and he had sexually assaulted her. She, a young woman, who had trusted him."

Mr Hallam said Streete had put forward changing accounts of what had happened, including claiming Ms Bunker had struck her head on a gatepost while he was giving her a piggy-back.

In an updated defence statement last week, Streete claimed they had consensual sex "and during it he held her around the neck and accidentally killed her".

Police had also found other women who had allegedly been assaulted by Streete, Mr Hallam said.

Streete is also accused of two further counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and a charge of sexual activity with a child, against three other victims, all said to have happened in previous years.

He denies any wrongdoing and the trial continues.