BURNED pieces of a possible mobile phone were found in an oil drum in which a murder suspect allegedly destroyed items, a court heard.

Thomas Haigh, 26, of Denby Dale, is jointly charged with Ross Stone, 28, of murdering two drug dealers at a farm in Cornwall.

David Griffiths, 35, from Plymouth, and Brett Flournoy, 31, from Merseyside, were killed with a shotgun and their bodies burned in a van and buried in a pit.

Haigh and Stone deny the murders on June 16 last year at Sunny Corner, Trenance Downs, near St Austell.

Stone, who lived at the farm, admits disposing of the bodies.

According to prosecutors, the defendants joined forces to kill the men because of drug debts.

Truro Crown Court has already heard records that show on the day of the killings Haigh and Stone had been in touch via mobile phone calls and texts.

At 9.24pm Haigh’s phone was active for the last time and has not been used since.

By around 10pm Haigh was at the home of a friend of Stone’s, Ray Watts in St Austell with Mr Watts’ girlfriend Michelle Magri and two others.

Initially Mr Watts and Miss Magri gave the police statements saying Haigh was at the house all night.

However, on Tuesday the couple admitted to the jury they lied to police and said Haigh arrived with a black bin bag containing what he said was rubbish and burned it in an old oil drum outside the property.

They said they lied because they had received threatening phone calls from people looking for Mr Flournoy and Mr Griffiths who were missing for a month before their remains were found.

In court the couple also claimed Haigh shared cocaine at the house before he went off with two of the group to a party.

Haigh’s defence argue the pair lied about the black bag to protect Stone by blaming Haigh and it was Mr Watts who provided the cocaine, which he denies.

The drum was used by other local residents to burn debris, the court heard.

Yesterday, Oliver McKnight-Lange, an expert in telecommunication investigations, said five pieces found in the oil drum could have come from a mobile phone.

Under cross-examination from John Elvidge, representing Haigh, he said he could not be certain they were mobile phone parts because they were too badly damaged and could have come from an MP3 player.

Charred fabric also found in the drum did not reveal any blood stains, the court heard.

A post-mortem showed Mr Flournoy was shot in the back at close range and in the legs and Mr Griffiths was blasted to the side of the face and neck.

With regard to Mr Griffiths’ wounds, Andre Botha, a firearms expert said: “It’s not possible to be accurate about the distances but these shots were not fired from over five metres away. For Mr Flournoy, from five to 10 metres.”

Mr Botha said he could not determine what size of shotgun was used.

The trial continues.