One of the men accused of plotting to kill Joss Stone has told a jury he had never heard of the singer before his arrest.
Junior Bradshaw said he thought he was going for 'a day out' in the country when he travelled to Devon with flatmate Kevin Liverpool.
Bradshaw told Exeter Crown Court he had no idea that the car he was driving contained an arsenal of weapons and said he did not know why there were two knives, two hammers and two balaclavas in it.
The former mental patient said he was sharing a small flat in Manchester but had no inkling about the plan he was allegedly cooking up to attack Joss Stone at her home in Devon.
Liverpool has decided not to give evidence or call any evidence in his defence, despite being warned by Judge Francis Gilbert, QC that the jury may draw inferences from this.
Bradshaw, aged 32, and Liverpool, aged 35, both of St Stephen's Close, Longsight, Manchester, both deny conspiracy to murder, rob or cause grievous bodily harm to Jocelyn Eve Stoker, aka Joss Stone, in June 2011.
The prosecution allege they planned to attack her at her isolated country home at Rull, Ashill, between Uffculme and Hemyock in East Devon.
They say notes written by Liverpool show they wanted to behead her using a Samurai sword because of her links to the Royal Family, including singing at charity events run by Princes William and Harry and attending the wedding of William and Kate Middleton.
They say they had scouted her home and were on their way to attack her armed with the sword, three knives, two hammers, masks, gloves, hosepipe, a makeshift body bag, when they were arrested in Cullompton.
The local postman and several other people from the Cullompton area have told the jury how they became suspicious of the two men who were asking for directions.
Bradshaw went into the witness box wearing a blue hoodie and jeans and spoke so softly that the usher had to prop up the microphone on two hefty legal tomes to bring it nearer to his mouth.
He recounted a history of mental illness in which he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and treated in hospital before being released to live at Liverpool's flat.
He said he had known Liverpool since shortly after leaving school because they both came from Huddersfield. He said he had been involved in buying the car which was used for the journey to Devon but denied any knowledge of a plan to kill Joss Stone.
He said:"When we came down I thought we were going on a day out. I did not know where we were going. I did not see any print outs of maps.
"I never saw the hosepipe in the car. I had seen the Samurai sword before in the flat. It was Kevin Liverpool's. I did not know it was in the car.
"I did not know about the things in the bag on the back seat. I did not know there were balaclavas and gloves in the car. I did not see the knife in the passenger footwell."
His defence counsel Mr Martin Meeke,QC, asked him if he remembered seeing Joss Stone giving evidence last week and whether he knew of her before that day.
He said: "I had not heard of her before we were arrested. I did not come to Devon to kill her or to cause her harm or to rob her. I never agreed anything with Kevin Liverpool to do that to her."
Under cross examination by Mr Simon Morgan he said he had no memory of telling a psychiatrist that Liverpool 'was on about this Joss Stone'.
He agreed his phone was used to buy the car but said it was to be used to get around and was not bought as part of any plot or plan.
He said he did not know why two hammers and balaclavas would be needed if only one person was to take part in any incident.
The trial continues.
![Man accused of Joss Stone murder plot tells Exeter jury he'd never heard of her]( "Man accused of Joss Stone murder plot tells Exeter jury he'd never heard of her")
