A west Cumbrian man has appeared before a court accused of murder.

At Workington’s magistrates' court yesterday morning, Trevor Green, 44, appeared in the glass-fronted dock of Court Number 2 charged with murdering his partner Shelly Clark.

Prosecutors allege that Green, from Mill Hill, Cleator Moor, murdered 43-year-old Miss Clark last Thursday, July 16.

In the five-minute court hearing, the Crown Prosecution Service was represented by lawyer Pamela Fee.

The defendant – wearing grey jogging bottoms and a grey sweatshirt – spoke only to confirm his personal details and say that he understood the proceedings.

As Green stood silently in the dock, the court clerk told him that magistrates had no legal power to grant him bail. She said their sole responsibility was to send the case to Carlisle Crown Court. The defendant was not asked to enter a plea. Nor were details of the case outlined.

Presiding magistrate Jenny Wilkinson told Green, flanked in the dock by a white-shirted security guard, that he will appear before a Carlisle Crown Court judge via a video link tomorrow.

Mrs Wilkinson asked Green: “Do you understand that Mr Green: we just can’t deal with this?” The defendant, his hands clasped behind his back, simply nodded in reply. The second magistrate sitting in court was Ian Beattie.

The defendant, who was not at this stage in the case asked to enter any plea to the charge that he faces, was represented by defence lawyer John Cooper.

The police investigation began after North West Ambulance Service was called to a property in Clayton Avenue, Cleator Moor, on the evening of July 15 following a report raiding concern for the welfare of a woman. Shelly Clark died in hospital the following day.

Relatives later paid tribute, saying: “Shelly was a loving mother, daughter, sister, aunty, niece, cousin – and friend to many. She will be sorely missed.”