"Tense" and "cagey" - these are the words a policeman used to describe the behaviour of the man accused of murdering Saints steward Paula Poolton just days after she disappeared.

PC Anthony Godfrey told Winchester Crown Court this morning that he found Roger Kearney to be "nervous" and "vacant" when he asked him about Paula going missing.

PC Godfrey was the first policeman to speak to Kearney after staff from the Solent Hotel Gym in Whiteley mentioned his name during his enquiries to the 40-year-olds disappearance.

He told the court that staff at the gym had given the impression that the two were having an affair.

When he arrived to Kearney's home in Painswick Close, Sarisbury Green on October 21, 2008 jurors heard how a lady first came to the door and remained in the house when Kearney and the officer were speaking.

When asked by prosecutor Nicholas Hattan QC how he would describe Kearney's demeanour that day PC Godfrey said: "I found him to be slightly cagey, he seemed slightly reluctant to provide information and appeared quite tense in his manner as he was sat in front of me.

"By that I mean his shoulders were hunched a bit and fiddling with his hands."

Kearney, 57, denies murdering Paula, of Course Park Crescent, Titchfield, who was found stabbed to death in the boot of her car in Duncan Road Park Gate eleven days after she went missing in October 2008. Proceeding.