THE man accused of murdering mum-of-five Pennie Davis had scratches on his head on the day of her killing and was described by friends as being “nervous and “aggravated”, a court heard.

Justin Robertson's close friend Darren West told Winchester Crown Court he saw the defendant with scratches on his head on September 2, last year - the day supermarket worker Pennie was found stabbed to death in a Beaulieu field.

Robertson, whose nickname is Twinkle Toes, told him he had fallen into brambles in the forest.

Robertson, 36, of no fixed address, is accused of killing the 47-year-old, while he, Benjamin Carr, 22, and Samantha Maclean, 28, are all charged with conspiring to kill her. They all deny the charges.

Mr West also told jurors how Robertson appeared to be “a bit aggravated” that evening, pacing around the house in Mill Pond, which Mr West shares with his partner, Emily James, and their five children, which he told police was unusual behaviour for him.

Earlier, the court heard from Miss James, who picked up Robertson just yards away from where Pennie had been found dead.

She explained how Robertson's girlfriend, Lian Doyle, had asked her to pick him up from Beaulieu on the afternoon of September 2, and how he appeared “nervous” and “twitchy”.

The jury were shown a video of Miss James being interviewed by police in which she explained how it was “not unusual” to be asked to pick him up.

Miss James, who has known Robertson for 14 years and described him as “happy-go-lucky”, said as she drove past Beaulieu Motor Museum she had seen a “glimpse” of someone in the bushes. When she did a U-turn Robertson got into the car.

She said: “He was a bit red-cheeked and I wasn't very talkative. I really didn't want to go out, I was doing my housework.”

She said she didn't ask what he had been doing adding: “I didn't want to know. If I don't know I can't get into trouble.”

Later that day she said Maclean, who she described as “caring and loving”, turned up at her house and asked neighbour, Michael Hartmann, to pick up her car for £30, as she had lost the keys.

The prosecution claim drug dealing Robertson used Maclean's car to drive to the murder scene but was unable to drive it back, as he had dropped the keys by Pennie's body.

Miss James also recalled how armed police stormed her house days later with a warrant looking for a murder weapon, as Robertson had been staying at their home recently.

Under cross examination from Robertson's barrister Rupert Pardoe, Miss James agreed she had never seen him be violent and she trusted him with her children, aged between two and 11.

Proceeding