A woman accused of murdering Newsome dad Martin Ackroyd told a court she had been ‘pimped’ by a man responsible for Mr Ackroyd’s death.
Former prostitute and drug addict Nicola Bedford told a jury that Surjit Singh Sidhu had become her pimp, taking her earnings and plying her with crack and heroin in exchange for sex.
Bedford, 30, of Blackers Court, Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury is on trial at Bradford Crown Court accused of Mr Ackroyd’s murder.
The father-of-three was found dead at his flat on Ashenhurst Rise, Newsome, in May.
He had been punched and kicked before being tied to a bed and strangled with a piece of cable from a DVD recorder.
Sidhu, 49, of New Hey Road, Oakes, has already admitted murdering the 50-year-old taxi office worker.
Yesterday, Bedford told the court that Sidhu had provided her with a flat and drugs and had paid for her breast enlargement operation – in exchange for sex.
But the ‘arrangement’ turned sour when Sidhu began asking Bedford to have sex with his friends and other people, Bedford said.
Bedford, who began working as a prostitute aged 15, said that Sidhu would beat and strangle her and on one occasion attempted to run her over in his car.
The former alcohol, crack and heroin addict added that Sidhu would take her earnings and had once attempted to rape her.
Defending barrister Christopher Tehrani, QC, asked: “Did you allow him to become your pimp?”
Bedford replied: “Yes.”
Mr Tehrani: “How much of your earnings would he take?”
Bedford: “All of it.”
Despite the abuse, Bedford told jurors she would return to Sidhu because of her addictions.
She said: “I was withdrawing badly and he had drugs with him. I was begging him for drugs.”
Bedford told the court she began seeing Mr Ackroyd in 2012 while she was still working in Huddersfield’s red light district.
She said: “He really didn’t like it. He knew I was working and it upset him.”
Bedford added that Mr Ackroyd had started dabbling with crack and heroin to ‘fit in’ with her addict friends.
She said: “I think he just wanted to fit in; all my friends were druggies.”
Bedford also told the court she had made 10 ‘serious’ attempts to kill herself, including one attempt where she was seriously injured jumping off a bridge.
The mother-of-two denies murdering Mr Ackroyd.
Proceeding.
