Before drowning her and lighting her on fire, a security guard and his colleague instructed his ex-girlfriend to do a pole dance for them

A lady who volunteered to pole dance for her ex-boyfriend was murdered and her body was set on fire, a court heard.

Firefighters discovered Louise Rump’s corpse after being summoned when neighbours noticed smoke streaming from her flat in the Bedfordshire village of Kensworth.

The 29-year-old was discovered dead at the foot of her bed, with prosecutors claiming she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend and his buddy.

Prosecutor David Matthew told St Albans Crown Court that she was murdered after her security guard ex-partner Habib Jackson struck a ‘bargain’ with her.

‘She was going to dance for him in the underwear he chose,’ Mr Matthew explained.

‘That transaction went horribly wrong. The fire department discovered her body. She had died as a result of asphyxia.’

Both Jackson, 32, of Dunstable Road, Toddington, and his business partner and another security guard, Christopher Hayward, 32, of Fensome Drive, Houghton Regis, deny murder.

Jackson is being tried in his absence because he refused to leave prison to appear in court today, according to Judge Michael Kay QC.

An intermediary is assisting his co-accused, Hayward, in court to help him grasp all that is being said.

Mr Matthew stated as he opened the investigation, ‘Louise Rump was murdered on Friday, October 16, 2020.’ She was 29 years old at the time. She was murdered at her flat in Kensworth’s Plewes Close.’

He said she was alive and well earlier in the day when neighbours saw her, and she had exchanged WhatApp messages with a cousin till 11.15 a.m.

‘She was slain between a quarter past eleven and half past lunch.’

‘Both of these defendants were at her address for one hour and fifteen minutes.’ She was discovered dead after they had departed.

‘The pathologist discovered she died of suffocation before her corpse was put on fire,’ she said.

‘There were traces of an attack, including bruises on her face, left hand, wrist, and pelvis,’ he continued.

‘The fire was a very intentional attempt to obliterate whatever evidence her assailant may have left.’

The court heard that CCTV, Automatic Number Plate Recognition, and telephone data were used to trace Jackson’s and Haywood’s automobiles as they drove from Toddington to Kensworth on the morning of the homicide.

The two automobiles were seen leaving the area on CCTV from a nearby business at 12.31pm.

According to the jurors, Jackson was observed stopping by the side of the road and throwing a jumper with Ms Rump’s blood on it and a cardboard box.

When the firefighters arrived to the apartment, they discovered a pole dancer’s pole in the living and Louise’s body in the bedroom.

‘That’s where the fire was started,’ Mr Matthew explained. The curtains had caught fire, causing smoke damage.

‘At the foot of the bed, there was a plastic water bottle.’ There is grounds to believe there was fuel or some kind of accelerant in there to start the fire.’