Teacher Jane Longhurst was murdered to satisfy her killer's macabre sexual fantasies, a court heard today.

Graham Coutts, 35, killed the talented 31-year-old at his Hove flat and kept her body hidden for more than a month, regularly visiting it at a storage unit, it was alleged.

A jury of five women and seven men sitting at Lewes Crown Court today heard from John Kelsey-Fry QC, prosecuting, that Coutts was forced to move Miss Longhurst's body when it began to smell.

He took her remains to a secluded wood in West Sussex and set them on fire.

Coutts, a part-time musician and Kleeneze salesman, of Waterloo Street, Hove, denies murder.

In his opening speech Mr Kelsey-Fry said: "We allege it was on March 14 that this defendant murdered 31-year-old schoolteacher Jane Longhurst by strangling her to death in satisfying his bizarre and macabre sexual fantasy.

"The Crown alleges that having killed her and had his way with her, he did not dispose of her body but kept her somewhere known only to him for 11 days before moving her to a storage unit hired in a false name."

He said the body was hidden at the Big Yellow Storage Unit in Coombe Road, Brighton.

He said: "He kept the body for almost a month, visiting it every three or four days, until the smell became pungent and began to attract attention.

"The defendant then removed the body, took it to a secluded spot in the woods on Wiggonholt Common, poured petrol upon it and set the remains on fire."

Mr Kelsey-Fry said a pair of tights was wrapped around Miss Longhurst's neck when she was found.

He said: "Although the knot was tied simply, it seems that it was nevertheless effective given that over a month after Jane Longhurst went missing the ligature was still sufficiently tight to be causing indentation marks on the neck."

He described Miss Longhurst, of Shaftesbury Road, Brighton, as an "attractive, talented and much-loved young lady".

She worked as a teacher at Uplands School for children with learning difficulties in Hollingdean, Brighton.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said she was an accomplished violinist and much of her life centred on teaching music and performing with the Musicians Of All Saints and the Brighton Youth Orchestra.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said she had lived for two or three years with her partner Malcolm Sentance, 34.

It was, he said, a strong, close, happy relationship and Miss Longhurst had recently suggested they should get married.

They had plans to sell their home and buy a new house in the Bath area, and to give up their jobs and travel round Europe.

It was on Red Nose Day, March 14, that Miss Longhurst disappeared.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said one phone call Miss Longhurst made that morning was to the defendant's home, where he lived with his partner Lisa Stephens, who was pregnant at the time.

Miss Stephens was out and Coutts told police he and Miss Longhurst had a general conversation. He said he had not seen her that day.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said once the body had been discovered Coutts was re-visited by police.

Coutts said on the night when Jane's body was found he was distributing Kleeneze catalogues but he could not verify where he had been.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said one officer noticed a box marked "fragile", the same kind that was later found to contain Jane's body.

Coutts was arrested but maintained his innocence and was released on bail.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said staff at the Big Yellow Storage Company later contacted the police in response to publicity. They told officers that 11 days after Jane went missing a man calling himself Paul Kelly had rented lock-up storage unit No C50, where he stored a large box.

Two weeks later the same man upgraded his rental agreement to allow him access to the unit outside working hours, using a PIN number to open the main gates.

Kelly told them he had recently split with his girlfriend and the box contained personal items.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said staff noticed a strong smell in the area of the storage unit, a smell that dissipated after April 19, the day Miss Longhurst's body was found.

He said police viewed CCTV tapes at the Big Yellow and noticed that Mr Kelly was in fact Coutts.

Coutts broke down in tears as the court silently watched pictures of the moment he is alleged to have removed the body..

Coutts stared into the well of the dock, refusing to watch the TV screen.

The trial continues.