The defendant told police that the death of an American polo player in the spa pool was ‘a tragic accident’

“This is a tragic accident and it is really sad. She was a really good girl. I never wanted any of this to happen. She fell asleep in the pool. “

That was the explanation that Joseph Douglas McGirr, 39, gave to police in a written statement hours after American polo player Lauren Biddle, 22, was found dead in the spa pool of her home in Christchurch on October 22, 2018.

McGirr is accused of supplying a class B drug to Biddle and his friend Guy Higginson, and of perverting the course of justice.

On Monday, he pleaded not guilty to those charges, but admitted another of growing cannabis.

Jurors heard how Higginson, Biddle and another friend, Sam Chambers, went to McGirr’s house to drink alcohol and relax in the spa pool on the night of October 21.

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Michael Demmocks, a friend of McGirr’s, arrived around 7:30 p.m. after Higginson invited him out for a beer.

He told the jury he had a few beers there, briefly spent time in the spa pool, and left around 9:30 p.m., shortly after Chambers left as well.

“We all have to stick together”

He said McGirr stopped him on a road in Amberley a few weeks later and asked him to convince Higginson to talk to him, saying, “We must all stick together.”

“It looked more like he was trying to cover his butt,” Demmocks said.

Demmocks testified that McGirr mentioned that drugs were missing and asked if he knew if Chambers had stolen them.

“He said if Sam didn’t steal them, then Lauren must have taken them.”

Defense attorney Rupert Glover told Demmocks that according to McGirr, he did not discuss drugs during the conversation.

“Well maybe you should ask your client to stop lying,” Demmocks replied.

Detective Jill Karen Brett told the jury that no one was at McGirr’s home when she arrived shortly before 2 a.m. on the day Biddle died.

He noticed that the ground around the spa pool and dining room table was wet and he could smell cannabis in the house. Police knew the house belonged to McGirr, but could not find it.

He appeared from the bushes in front of the house around 3.50 am and wanted to know what was going on.

McGirr said he wanted to go to bed and seemed “nervous” when she told him that Biddle had died, he said.

McGirr agreed to answer questions about what happened at a police station, but did not want to do a video interview.

Brett said McGirr initially said that he, Biddle, and Higginson were “playing” in the spa pool, and Biddle dipped into the water. She said she pulled it out when she realized it hadn’t come back and felt flaccid.

He later backed off, saying that Biddle was not ducking underwater, but was “lying down relaxing.”

He said he wasn’t sure if she had taken any drugs, but that he “freaked out” after seeing her not respond. He grabbed her clothes and threw them down the hill, then buried them under some leaves.

“I don’t know why I did that, I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

McGirr told police that he grabbed his duvet and went down the hill to sleep.

“I heard people screaming, but I was hoping it would all go away,” he said in his interview.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to get in trouble. I just didn’t want to draw attention to me or my address. “

The trial continues.