Woman accused of killing teenager claims she was researching a book about murder and torture

Jemma Lilley and Trudi Lenon are accused of luring victim to their home in June 2016

Aaron Pajich was found in a shallow grave in the women's backyard (Western Australia Police)

A woman accused of murdering an 18-year-old man said police evidence showing she was researching murder and torture was for a book she was writing.

Jemma Lilley, 26, is on trial at the Supreme Court in Perth, Australia, along with her housemate Trudi Lenon, 43, for the murder of Aaron Pajich.

The two women are accused of luring Mr Pajich, who had Asperger’s syndrome, to their home before stabbing him to death and hiding his body in their back garden in June 2016.

Ms Lilley told the jury she had researched torture methods because she was planning to write a trilogy about serial killers.

She denied any knowledge of why the victim’s name and address were in a notebook used by her at work and denied writing it.

Ms Lilley also told the court about a fictional book called Play Zone which she had written originally as a computer game at the age of 16, while she was living in England.

She said the main character was called SOS, which stood for “Style of Smiles”.

“He is a serial killer and he has magnets under his face so he can wear masks, and he marks the victim with a smiley face on the bottom of his boot,” she said.

“He is one part of quite a few serial killers.”

Ms Lilley also told the court the reason there were tarpaulins hanging in her house was because she was preparing to paint an area to turn it into a tattoo studio.

She said this is also why police discovered bin liners and tape had been used to cover the windows.

The court heard the defendant did not know Mr Pajich and denies any involvement in his death.

Ms Lenon, who is also accused, denies the murder charge.

She claims the victim was killed by Ms Lilley and she only helped to clean up the scene.