THE young woman who is on trial accused of luring Lee McKnight to her Carlisle home before he was “beaten to the point of death” told a jury she felt sorry for him and his family.

Coral Edgar, 26, made the comment while giving evidence in the murder trial at Carlisle Crown Court where she is one of six people who deny murdering Mr McKnight on July 24 last year.

Under extensive questioning from her defence QC Caroline Goodwin, Edgar said that at the time Mr McKnight died she was a “chaotic mess.”

Shown a photograph of herself after her arrest, Edgar described it as “horrible.” She had weighed “under six stone,” she said.

Edgar agreed it was “a horrible time” in her life, when she was addicted to cannabis and crack cocaine.

Asked how many drugs she was taking at the time, she said: “As much as I could get.” Her habit was “really bad,” she said, explaining that she had a "£40-a-day" cocaine habit.

She said that Mr McKnight supplied her and her mother Carol with cannabis and cocaine and so she had “daily contact” with him.

She spoke also of being “abused” by a former partner whom she accused of stalking her. Edgar also said that she was diagnosed with psychiatric conditions – namely anxiety, agoraphobia, a personality disorder and depression.

Ms Goodwin then quoted from a series of text messages Edgar sent in the days before July 24.

In one, Edgar said: “I don’t know what reality is. I don’t know if anything in my life has even been real. I’m just having a bad time at the minute.”

Because of personal issues in her life at that time, said Edgar, she was neither “bothered” nor “interested” that Jamie Davison – one of the four men accused of the murder – had landed at her Charles Street home to stay.

She was trying to find drugs every day, she said and her drugs were coming from Mr McKnight.

The QC then said to Coral Edgar: “I am going to ask you now what do you think about what happened to Lee McKnight?” Edgar replied: “Horrible. Sad. I feel sorry for him and his family.”

Ms Goodwin asked: “Did you have anything to do with a deliberate plan to get him down to your house so he could be beaten up?” Edgar replied: “No.”

The barrister asked: “Did you lure him?” Edgar said: “No”, adding that nor did she trick or deceive him.

“At that stage in life,”asked Ms Goodwin, “how important was Lee McKnight to you?”Coral Edgar answered: “Very.”

“Would there have been any possible advantage to you of causing him the suffering which he went through?” continued the QC. Coral answered: “No.”

Lee McKnight's murder is also denied by: Coral Edgar’s mum Carol Edgar, 47, also of Charles Street; Jamie Davison, 26, of Beverley Rise, Harraby; Arron Graham, 26, of Blackwell Road, Currock; Jamie Lee Roberts, 18, of Grey Street; and his father Paul Roberts, 51, also of Grey Street.