A Kingsbridge faked a suicide note and staged a hit-and-run scene to cover up the killing of his former partner so he could secure sole care of their young son, a jury has been told.

Rowan Sutton, 31, of West Charleton Court, has gone on trial at Plymouth Crown Court charged with the murder of 22-year-old Aimee Pike on April 23, 2025.

He also faces a charge of sexual assault. He denies both charges.

The trial, which started on Monday, July 20, after an earlier jury was disbanded for legal reasons, heard opening submissions from prosecutor James Daws KC.

Mr Daws told the jury that Sutton launched a "deliberate and calculated" plan to eliminate Ms Pike after she ended their five-year relationship four weeks before her death.

The court heard that the couple had a three-and-a-half-year-old son together and that Sutton feared losing access to him following the breakup.

"The decision was not one Rowan was able to comprehend or agree with," Mr Daws said. "He started to plan a way out that would give him total control by getting rid of Aimee."

Sutton, wearing a pale blue polo shirt and jeans, was present in court as prosecutors detailed how he allegedly laid the groundwork for the cover-up by spreading false rumours to family and Coastguard colleagues that Ms Pike was suicidal.

The jury was told that in the days leading up to the killing, Sutton secretly installed a hidden camera, disguised as a clock inside a caravan near Loddiswell, where Ms Pike sometimes stayed to get away from him.

Police later recovered footage from the device, which Sutton had viewed the day before her death.

The prosecution also alleges Sutton had previously filmed Ms Pike while she slept and placed a concealed phone behind towels in their flat to record her showering.

The court heard on the evening of April 22, Sutton drove Ms Pike to the caravan before returning home.

CCTV showed him parking away from his usual space before entering the flat at West Charleton Court at 10:17pm.

Mr Daws alleged that over the next two and a half hours, Sutton made “final preparations” to kill Ms Pike.

During this window, prosecutors say Sutton fabricated a suicide note on a tablet, took a photograph of himself holding Ms Pike's prescribed painkiller medication, and sent himself a fake text message pretending to show she had been unfaithful.

"Why would you write someone else's suicide note?" Mr Daws asked jurors.

The court heard Sutton waited for a local streetlight to turn off before sneaking out through a hedge - carrying his son - and driving along rural back roads to bypass CCTV cameras, as well as leaving his mobile phone at the flat to avoid being tracked.

"He got to the caravan and murdered her," Mr Daws told the jury.

The prosecution alleges Ms Pike was deliberately run down by Sutton in his Land Rover, somewhere between the caravan location and Bowcombe Bridge.

Forensic analysis recovered paint flakes on the Land Rover containing fibres from the dressing gown Ms Pike was wearing, while her blood and a dressing gown cord were found inside the boot of the vehicle.

Mr Daws said the prosecution believes Ms Pike's body was moved more than once before eventually being placed on Embankment Road near Bowcombe Bridge, but added that where Ms Pike’s body was initially moved to is unknown.

Prosecutors allege that after Sutton moved Ms Pike's body the first time, he returned to his flat, swapping the Land Rover for a Skoda car, and then returned to the second location to transport her body to the final crime scene.

"Only the defendant can say whether she was alive or dead when her body was moved," Mr Daws told the jury.

Detailing the alleged staging of the scene, Mr Daws said Sutton waited beside the road for a passing bakery van before recording a video of a fake conversation designed to sound as though Ms Pike was purposefully jumping in front of it.

In the video, Sutton is heard saying: “You stay there, you stay there alright”, before shouting at the passing van “you f****r”.

Mr Daws said the van driver had "nothing whatsoever" to do with Ms Pike's death and that there had been "no collision", despite initially being treated as a suspected hit-and-run driver.

After the van passed, prosecutors allege Sutton placed Ms Pike’s body in the road, and then moved her body several yards up the carriageway to appear as though her body had been “dragged under a vehicle”.

Blood matching Ms Pike's and plasters bearing her DNA were found behind a low roadside wall, which prosecutors allege was where Sutton and Ms Pike’s body were hidden before the staging.

Additionally, a green emergency-style blanket that contained her blood and hairs that appeared to have been “forcefully pulled out” was recovered from deep inside a hedge approximately 200 metres from the scene.

Following the DNA evidence presented, Mr Daws told jurors the order of Sutton’s emergency communications was "significant".

Rather than calling 999 immediately, Sutton first contacted fellow Coastguard volunteers in an attempt to get them to attend the scene - telling them he needed “help” and that he had already called an ambulance.

He then dialled 999, telling operators he was performing CPR and claiming Ms Pike had taken an overdose of the painkiller, amitriptyline, drunk a bottle of wine, and stepped into the path of a van.

In the audio recording played to the jury, Sutton could be heard saying: "She’s been trying to commit suicide for ages, I tried to stop her."

Sutton then called Ms Pike's father, who rushed to the scene and assisted with CPR.

However, prosecutors state that forensic evidence directly contradicted Sutton’s account.

Toxicology reports showed no trace of alcohol or amitriptyline in Ms Pike's blood or stomach, and a post-mortem confirmed the cause of death was severe chest injuries.

Prosecutors also noted that while at the scene, Sutton deleted a password-protected album of images from his phone, and Ms Pike's mobile phone has never been located.

Jurors were additionally shown video footage of Sutton’s police interview following his arrest on April 23.

Under caution, Sutton maintained that Ms Pike had ended her own life.

He claimed to police that he had gone to check on her at the caravan, where they argued, and that she had also tried to jump out of his moving vehicle.

He told officers she subsequently got out of the car, but he continued to look for her out of concern for her mental state.

Sutton claimed he found her near the road, where they had a “difficult conversation”, then she gave a "dying speech" apologising to him and calling herself a bad mother before “diving” in front of the passing van.

"I wish it had been me," Sutton told police during the interview. "I remember screaming really loudly and this horrible scream coming out of me, I’ll never forget that image."

The trial at Plymouth Crown Court continues.