The best friend of a murder victim sobbed today (W

The best friend of a murder victim sobbed today (WED) as she told the Old Bailey she feared they were both ‘condemned to death’ after a drugs deal went wrong.

Wendy Woodhouse, 31, was pistol-whipped to death after being conned by a small-time drug pusher.

She had travelled to London from Rugby to buy drugs for a local dealer but ended up paying pnds stlg 1200 for a roll of parsley.

Ewing Thomas, 25, Fiona Jamieson, 32, and Courtney Peters, 28, then beat Ms Woodhouse to death with a revolver and a snooker cue.

Her body was discovered by a jogger the following morning on Holly Bush Hill near Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Claudette Foster told the jury today of a terrifying car journey she and the victim endured when the intended buyers discovered the woman’s mistake.

She told prosecutor Victor Temple QC that the victim, who she had known for four years, begged her to travel down to London with her to pick up drugs for their housemate, a dealer called Patrick White.

But after the pair left their home in Beswick Gardens they got high smoking crack on the way down to London.

And by the time they got to Euston, Ms Woodhouse in particular was ‘all over the place’.

Ms Foster said when they got to Walthamstow Central station Ms Woodhouse jumped into a car driven by a stranger and asked him to sell them some drugs.

Ms Foster got in the car and the pair were driven to a house where they waited while the driver went inside to pick up the drugs.

But after they were dropped off at another tube station, Ms Woodhouse realised her mistake, Ms Foster explained.

‘As I was on the platform I heard her starting to scream and saying: ‘Oh my God.

What have I done?’

‘She had her back turned to me.

Then she turned
and had this packet in her hand.

In the events of what happened that night I knew what had happened.

She had been ripped off.

‘She got on the phone to the person she should have met asking him to come down and help.

‘She was frightened, she was screaming.

‘

Minutes later a white car driven by Peters pulled up and the pair got in, said Ms Foster.

‘He was asking her where is his money.

‘She replied she had not ripped him off.

She didn’t know what had happened and he didn’t believe her.

‘

‘He was just interrogating her and was just at her the whole time.

‘I thought we were both dead,’ sobbed Ms Foster.

Peters stopped to pick up Jamison and his cousin Thomas and the trio continued to intimidate the women, said the witness.

Their bags were taken and searched because the gang believed the pair were lying.

When the word ‘piece’ was mentioned Ms Foster realised they were in serious trouble because she knew it meant gun.

Thomas was dropped off at a house and returned carrying something in a bag which he passed to Peters.

And when an angry Patrick White was called back in Rugby Ms Foster said she knew their lives were in danger.

‘I knew what was going to happen.

I just went numb and I switched off.

‘We were condemned to death basically.

Me and Wendy.

‘

Her friend was handed the phone and pleaded with White, promising she could repay the money.

‘She was crying and telling him she didn’t rip any one off.

‘She was just so upset and distraught, what she was saying was just condemning herself basically.

‘

Ms Foster broke down again as she described the ‘very cold, emotionless’ way Jamison spoke to them.

‘She kept saying best tell him where the money is because we know you have done something with it.

‘

Peters and Thomas then began beating her friend, Ms Foster said.

‘Wendy was battered.

There were just fists flying everywhere.

‘They grabbed her hair and just kept punching her.

‘

Ms Foster said she was punched in the face ‘with ‘severe force’ by the two men before the car stopped in Epping Forest.

Thomas and Peters left the car with Miss Woodhouse, leaving Ms Foster alone with Jamison, the jury heard.

‘I asked her what they were going to do with her.

She replied the others did not make it – or words to that effect,’ Ms Foster recalled trembling visibly in the dock.

‘It was just as if we were talking about a shopping list.

‘

She said after what seemed like hours the two men came back to the car without the victim.

‘I didn’t look at the cousin’s (Thomas’s) hands but it was as if he was wiping blood off them.

‘

Ms Foster said she noticed the driver had specks of blood on his forehead before the cousin spoke to her.

‘He looked at me in a sinister way and asked me to look at him.

He said that anywhere I went in the world I was not to say anything and anywhere I went in the world I would be found and dealt with.

‘

Thomas, of Albion Rd, Stoke Newington and Jamison and Peters of Marten Rd, Walthamstow deny murdering Wendy Woodhouse on April 18 2000.

The trial continues.

ends