HE may be a love rat but that does not make him a murderer.

That is what jurors were told about the man who had an affair with slain Saints steward Paula Poolton.

Roger Kearney is wrongly accused of the killing, Winchester Crown Court heard.

In fact Paula’s husband Ricky had more of a motive for killing his wife than her secret lover, the jury was told.

Nigel Pascoe QC, opening the case for the defence, said there were “really worrying weaknesses” in the prosecution’s case and described some of the CCTV film used in evidence as “ridiculous”.

He said: “The case for the defence is that Mr Roger Kearney has been wrongly accused of murder. If you think about it for a moment these are terrible words to say because is there anything worse than a false allegation of murder?

“Mr Kearney may not like what I’m going to say but that doesn’t matter.

“You may not find his conduct attractive. There is a word sometimes used, love rat. Maybe that is unfair to Mr Kearney but I don’t mind for our purposes because there is a world of difference between a court of morals and a court of law, between having an affair with someone else’s wife and killing.

“I do not accuse Mr Ricky Poolton of murder. I simply point out to you that if you are looking for a motive for murder, he potentially would have more than the man I represent and I point out to you this has been a relationship with some violence.”

The “savage” nature of the killing, Mr Pascoe said, meant it was possible to look at other alternatives, such as an attack by an individual with an “unstable mind”, making reference to an unnamed paranoid schizophrenic known to be in the area.

He also highlighted the lack of forensic evidence linking Royal Mail worker Kearney to the killing.

In the witness stand, Kearney, who met Paula while working as a steward at St Mary’s Stadium, looked directly at the jury as he told them he did not kill Paula, 40, of Course Park Crescent, Titchfield. He spoke about their threemonth affair, telling jurors that Paula had not put any pressure on their relationship and that he had not arranged to meet her on the evening she disappeared, October 17, 2008.

When asked about the affair he said: “I wasn’t particularly keen but I went along with it. I liked her. She was fun when she was sober.

I thought it was just a bit of fun on both sides. I didn’t see any long-term future in it.”

Describing his movements on the night Paula disappeared, Kearney denied covering his tracks at work, explaining that it was not unusual for him not to use his swipe card to enter the Royal Mail depot in Eastleigh.

“It’s possible that I either followed somebody in or somebody came out through the door as I approached it.”

When asked why he was seen running into the depot via the vehicle entrance, he said he had gone back to his car to get his glasses and ran back that way because it was quicker.

During cross-examination, prosecutor Nicholas Haggan QC accused Kearney of fabricating a “complete tissue of lies” and trying “to pull the wool over the jury’s eyes”.

Kearney, of Painswick Close, Sarisbury Green, denies murdering Paula, who was found stabbed to death in the boot of her car in Duncan Road, Park Gate, in October 2008.

Proceeding