His advisor, Christopher Stables, yesterday asked him about a series of messages on New Year’s Day; One of them included a message telling Chapman “it’s not too late to buy a car to go shopping.” The two men then spoke on the phone at around 1.30pm and then picked up his car near the killer’s home on Houghton Road in Woodchurch.

Owen said of that conversation: “I texted him at 9.36am. He just said ‘yeah mate, are you okay?’ At this point, at 10.49am, I wrote ‘don’t drive too late, I have to go shopping’.

“I’m worried at this point. I realized the car wasn’t delivered outside my house as previously planned. Then I tried to call him. Frankly, my car still hadn’t arrived. He called almost immediately and explained to me where I could find the car.”

When asked why Chapman left the car at that location, Owen said: “He had difficulty getting back to the area because the police presence was so heavy. There was a heavy police presence all around the site. The police were under the impression he was there. There would be retaliation between the Ford and Woodchurch properties.”

Owen said he used the spare key to get to his Mercedes before Chapman threw the key he used into the mailbox. About finding his vehicle, he told jurors: “I noticed two things.

“First of all, there was a light scratch on the left front of the car. Secondly, there were some jumper cables in the rear passenger footwell, which I found very strange. I took them off and put them in my shed, waiting to give it back to them.”

Mr Stables said he was “willing to tell the police about the jumpers” when interviewed by detectives later. “They weren’t my jumper cables, and I thought I’d help them by telling them that people in the car would have fingerprints on the jumper cables,” Owen said of this.

Similarly, he said of his car’s sat-nav system: “It’s got a tracking device and sat-nav. They might have used it. They might have had their fingerprints on it.”

When Mr Stables asked if he was “trying to obstruct the police investigation” Owen replied: “Absolutely not. I was helping them.”

Owen was later questioned about a conversation with Chapman on January 2 that lasted two minutes and three seconds. He told the court: “I discussed the jumpers, which he said he didn’t want back. “We also discussed the scratches because I was smoking.

“He said he was willing to pay to have it repaired. I T-cut it. He didn’t have to pay to have it repaired. It’s a chemical formula that will make it shine. You can put it on a cloth.” and apply to the surface. This will get rid of minor scratches.”

Dowdall, 34 years old and tree churchHe denies the charge of aiding an offender. Matthews, also 34, from Noctorum, pleaded not guilty to three charges against him for the same offence.

Chambers, 43, of no fixed address, denied two charges of assisting an offender, while Owen, 55, of Woodchurch, pleaded not guilty to one charge. The hearing before Mr Justice Morris continues.