THE man accused of murdering Saints steward Paula Poolton tried to ring her three times within a minute on the night she vanished a court heard.

Phone records show Roger Kearney, 57, rang his lover's phone at 10.26pm on October 17, 2008 and then repeated the call twice more.

The Winchester Crown Court jury was told that none of the calls connected to Paula's phone.

Prosecutor Nicholas Haggan QC said: "When the police examined the defendant's phone they found the time setting of his phone calls was incorrect, 35 minutes fast."

However Mr Haggan said, on examination, the phone's clock setting was correct for calls made before and afterwards.

Jurors were told how Kearney turned up late for his shift at the Eastleigh's Royal Mail depot that evening. He should have started at 10.30pm but arrived at 10.33pm.

Mr Haggan said when Kearney entered the building he did not use his swipe card, even though he used it later on during his shift.

Instead he pressed the intercom to enable him to drive on to the premises.

The court heard how he stayed in his car for three minutes then got out and moved towards the staff entrance.

A CCTV image was then shown of a person, which the prosecution believe is Kearney, turning away from the staff entrance and going towards a vehicle entrance instead.

Mr Haggan alleged Kearney ran across the car park towards a barrier which he ducked under after a lorry passed through. He was then able to enter the building without using his swipe card.

"It's a pretty circuitous way to get to your place of work, dodging a lorry and trying to get under the gate. Why would you do that?" said Mr Haggan.

"He did not want to use his swipe card because it would show that he arrived late for work, it would show when he entered the building. Once inside it did not matter, it's the time of entry that matters. He did not want to leave a trace of his late arrival for work."

Kearney denies murder.

Proceeding.