THE POSTIE love rat who brutally stabbed his mistress to death and dumped her body in the boot of a car is suing Royal Mail for sacking him.

Royal Mail worker Roger Kearney, 57, lost his job after he was convicted and caged for life for the killing of Saints steward Paula Poolton.

He will seek damages at an employment tribunal in Southampton tomorrow over his "unfair dismissal".

But the hearing will go ahead in his absence as he is not being allowed to leave prison where he must serve at least 15 years before parole.

Jurors took 12 hours to unanimously decide that the father-of-two was guilty of Paula's murder, on October 17, 2008.

The pair began a three-month affair after meeting at St Mary's Stadium, where they both worked as stewards.

Desperate to stop her from exposing their affair to his partner of eight years, Carol Goddard, Kearney, viciously stabbed 40-year-old Paula eight times as she sat in her car, parked in Duncan Road.

He then callously dumped her blood soaked body in the boot, where she lay for 11 days, until beat officers spotted the black Peugeot 206, just yards from Swanwick Railway station.

Kearney, of Painswick Close, Sarisbury Green, always denied any involvement in her death but jurors rejected his lies to reach a guilty verdict.

During the six-week trial at Winchester Crown Court the jury was shown CCTV footage that showed Kearney leaving work half an hour earlier than he told police, taking a de-tour to murder married Paula, of Course Park Crescent, Titchfield.