A JURY examining the brutal murder of a 22-year-old man with learning disabilities has been told of attempts made to keep him away from the two people who killed him.

Phillip Nicholson, 22, died of stab wounds to the neck at the hands of his ex-girlfriend Isabella Gossling and her new partner Richard Moors.

A Bournemouth inquest was told concerns had been raised about Mr Nicholson's relationship with Gossling, who had assaulted a previous vulnerable partner.

Before his death, Mr Nicholson had received threatening text messages and had been detained against his will at Gossling's Boscombe flat.

Acting Senior Dorset Coroner Brendan Allen and a jury of six women and three men were told that social workers and police had advised Mr Nicholson to keep away from them.

But they heard that he was assessed as having capacity to make his own decisions despite his learning disabilities and a low IQ.

The jury has heard evidence from the many agencies who cared for Mr Nicholson as well as from police and family members.

Jury members have been instructed to return a conclusion that he died as the result of unlawful killing.

Mr Nicholson, a former pupil of Winchelsea School, lived in supported accommodation in Parkstone and was lured to Gossling's flat in Sea Road on May 26 2015.

Gossling, 20, and 26-year-old Moors told him he was going to meet another woman but he was tormented and killed.

The 17-minute attack, in which Mr Nicholson’s throat was slashed, was recorded on Gossling’s phone.

The couple, who got engaged hours after the vicious attack, were captured on CCTV strolling away from the flat holding hands.

They were jailed for life following a trial at Winchester Crown Court with a judge ordering that Moors serve at least 22 years behind bars and Gossling at least 19 years.

The inquest was told neither has given any explanation as to why they killed Mr Nicholson.

Jurors at Winchester listened to a harrowing recording in which Mr Nicholson wept and begged them to be his friends.

Six days earlier he had been invited to the flat, also under the pretext of meeting a woman. He was held captive, his phone was taken away from him and he was recorded ‘confessing’ to raping Gossling in 2014 when the pair were in a relationship.

The court heard there was no evidence that the alleged rape took place.