Anthony Clarke, 27, told Liverpool Crown Court that he wished Monika Szmecht no harm - despite her blackmailing him.

Miss Szmecht, 21, was stabbed six times and set alight on 11 June last year on a quiet lane in Rainford, Merseyside.

She managed to stumble to a nearby house where - ''all her hair had been burnt off and her head still smouldering'' she said her boyfriend had attacked her.

She died in hospital two hours later - 80 per cent of her body severely burned.

Clarke, who was dishonourably discharged from the Army for handling stolen goods, said: ''I have never hit a girl in my life.

''Why would I hit Monika?''

Miss Szmecht, who was originally from Kloda, Poland, had arranged to meet Clarke hours before she was killed to collect £1,000.

The waitress had told his sister-in-law Kate Clarke that if he paid her the money she would not make an assault allegation against him to police.

The prosecution claim that Clarke, a father of three, abducted Miss Szmecht and held her hostage for several hours before murdering her.
Clarke's uncle, David Clarke, 46, of Walton Village, Liverpool, has already pleaded guilty to assisting an offender.

And the defendant's best friend, Philip Savin, 29, of Chester Avenue, Bootle, admitted kidnap, making threats and assisting an offender.

He has told the jury of five men and seven women that Clarke killed Miss Szmecht.

Clarke, who admitted having several girlfriends at any one time, said he paid the money so Miss Szmecht would not tell police that his sister Shereen ''had battered her'' weeks earlier.

And he blamed the idea of blackmail on John McMinn, Miss Szmecht's former landlord and boyfriend, whom he described as a ''Liverpool gangster''.

''That's what John McMinn does,'' he said. ''He bullies people up for protection money.''

Dressed in a black suit and black Reebok trainers, Clarke said he dropped Miss Szmecht off near an Asda supermarket.

''I didn't see her again,'' he said.

His barrister Stephen Riordan QC, asked him: ''Did you murder Monika Szmecht?''

''I did not, no way,'' replied Clarke.

''Do you know who did?'' said Mr Riordan.

''No, I don't,'' he answered.

That night he bought cocaine from his dealer, he said.

Clarke, of Halsey Crescent, West Derby, Liverpool, admitted lying in a prepared statement to police about his movements on the night of the killing.

He said he did not want to mention the cocaine or seeing Savin because he had been wanted by police for two years for wagon thefts.

Proceeding.