Special security measures are in place at Oxford Crown Court after a murder trial witness claimed he had received death threats, a jury heard today.

Thomas McDonagh, a prosecution witness in the trial of Martin Joyce, told police there was a “price on his head” and he had been threatened with being shot. Joyce, 22, denies murdering Afghan refugee Enayit Khalili.

Mr Khalili lived opposite Joyce’s fiancee Lisa Maughan’s home in Fiennes Road, Rose Hill, when he was killed in March 2007.

Dc Graham Cherry, of Thames Valley Police’s major crime unit, said officers had been told about death threats allegedly made to Mr McDonagh, Joyce’s nephew.

He said: “There is intelligence which I cannot talk about in court, reference someone being shot. There are actually police officers here for security.”

Richard Benson QC, defending, said: “There are no armed response units here. When someone like Thomas McDonagh says there is a price on his head or says there are threats, you have to take what he says to you.

“There is no confirmation about the truth of which he spoke.”

The court also heard Joyce had replied “no comment” to all questions asked during a police interview lasting more than four hours after his arrest in May 2008. The case continues.