A Shropshire man plotted to get the truth out of his girlfriend’s lover on the night he was attacked and set on fire, a murder trial has heard.

Pawnbroker George Black was set alight after a mix of petrol and kerosene was thrown over him at his home in The Square, Bucknell, near Craven Arms, the jury at Worcester Crown Court was told.

Black, 41, died 36 hours later in a Liverpool hospital as a result of his injuries, after the attack on December 8 last year. Robert Field, 22, of Etnam Street, Leominster, and Gareth Powell, 29, of The Grove, Shobdon, Leominster, both deny murder.

Cross-examined yesterday by Mark Wall QC, defending Field, Mr Black’s friend Glynn Powell, who is no relation to Gareth Powell, admitted Mr Black planned to bring Field to his house on the night of the attack.

In a statement to the police in January, after he was detained on suspicion of conspiring to murder Field, Glynn Powell said Mr Black intended to bring Field to his house to confirm he was having an affair with Mr Black’s girlfriend, Sylvia Marie Smith. Glynn Powell was subsequently released.

Reading from the statement Glynn Powell told the court: “It says, I said he was going to bring Rob Field round that night to confirm it.”

Mr Wall said text messages from Mr Black to Field indicted a meeting had been arranged that night in Leominster. He said another message, this time from Glynn Powell to Mr Black minutes after he heard what had happened, read: “Come pick me up. We’ll kill them.”

The jury heard that, the day before the attack, Glynn Powell told Mr Black he had previously seen his girlfriend touching Field’s thigh. The court had heard previously that Mr Black’s partner, Sylvia Marie Smith, who also suffered burns in the incident, had been having an affair with Field and believed she was pregnant by him.

Smith, 22, of Cherrybrook Close, Hope-under-Dinmore, Leominster, denies conspiracy to murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice

Smith’s mother, Sylvia Jane Smith, 42, and her stepfather, Steven Smith, 45, also of Cherrybrook Close, both deny attempting to pervert the course of justice. The case continues.

By Sophie Bignall