Charlotte Murray: Ex-fiance says 'she's alive to me'

A man accused of murdering his former fiancee has told a jury "until there's a day her body is found she's alive to me and that's the truth".

Johnny Miller, from Redford Park in Dungannon in County Tyrone, denies murdering Charlotte Murray between 30 October and 2 November, 2012.

It was the 48-year-old's third day of cross-examination by the prosecution.

He said he wanted Charlotte "to walk through the door someday and say sorry about all of this".

Mr Miller added he believed Charlotte is alive "even now because I know I didn't kill her".

A barrister challenged him about alleged inconsistencies in statements he made to police and was asked if this was a "demonstration of your capacity to lie".

Mr Miller replied: "Murdering someone is a big, big thing. I'm not telling lies about this."

He denied he was trying to blacken Charlotte's name while portraying himself as "a put upon soul".

When police came to search the house they had shared at Roxborough Heights in Moy, Mr Miller said "my life fell to pieces".

He told the court he sold Charlotte's car after she left as she owed him money for rent.

He denied the presence of the car in the driveway was "a constant reminder" of her or that he knew she no longer needed it because she was dead.

The prosecution said "the lie to the story" could be found in the mobile phone data which recorded the dates and times of messages as well as the area where they were sent.

This revealed an exchange of messages while both phones were in the area which covered Roxborough Heights.

The prosecution lawyer said: "This was you sending the text from her phone to your phone, laying a trail that Charlotte was still alive, Charlotte was functioning and living her new life."

"It's a story, an attempt at cunning. You were the man with two phones laying an electronic trail."

Mr Miller insisted: "I didn't have her phone and I didn't send those texts".

When asked to explain why the data did not support his account he said, "I can't explain it."

"This is as big a mystery, in a way, as Charlotte vanishing," the prosecution lawyer said.

"Charlotte is still alive and I know rightly she is," Mr Miller answered.

The lawyer also alleged Mr Miller had accessed Charlotte's Facebook account a week after her disappearance using the IP address associated with his home.

He suggested Mr Miller was "checking up to see if anybody had been looking for her."

"This is the early days, we suggest of her being dead," said the lawyer.

"You hadn't been immediately caught and you'd have been in a state if you had killed your lover."

The trial continues.