THE father of Hampshire murder victim Paula Poolton says he remains convinced the man convicted of killing her is guilty despite claims made by a new TV programme.

Retired engineer Phil Cross spoke out after watching the first part of a TV investigation that casts doubt on key aspects of the prosecution case.

Paula, a Saints steward, was stabbed to death in 2008 and her body dumped in the boot of her car, parked near Swanwick railway station.

Her secret lover – postal worker Roger Kearney, pictured right, – was jailed for life in 2010 for her murder but has always protested his innocence.

His conviction is being examined in a two-part documentary, Conviction: Murder at the Station, presented by Louise Shorter from Inside Justice, a charity that uses independent forensics experts, criminal lawyers and ex-detectives to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice.

In the first episode, screened on Wednesday, she retraced Kearney’s steps on the night Paula was murdered.

Ms Shorter said he would have had only seven minutes to stab his victim to death and dump her body in the boot of her black Peugeot 206, which was parked near a taxi rank.

Paula, 40, of Course Park Crescent, Titchfield, was the victim of what was described in court as a vicious and very bloody murder.

But Ms Shorter said the prosecution failed to produce any forensic evidence linking Kearney to the crime.

There was also surprisingly little blood in the car, even though Paula had been knifed several times.

Conviction: Murder at the Station also highlighted flaws in poor quality CCTV images that formed part of the prosecution case.

The programme featured a telephone interview Ms Shorter conducted with Kearney from the prison where he is serving a minimum 15-year sentence. He repeatedly protested his innocence while claiming his lover had “a bit of a dark side”.

In a further twist, one of Paula’s old friends claimed she had a secret second boyfriend. But the programme failed to impress 81-year-old Mr Cross, who sat through Kearney’s six-week trial at Winchester Crown Court.

Speaking from his home at Sarisbury Green he said: “A lot of what I saw wasn’t a lot different from what we heard in court.

"I have no doubts about Kearney’s conviction – I know he’s guilty. Just after the programme finished one of my mates rang me up and said: ‘Well, we’ve got nothing to worry about there, have we?’’

Mr Cross said he needed “a couple of stiff drinks” to help him cope with the trauma of sitting through the programme, adding that his wife, Jenny, felt unable to watch.

the documentary.

At the trial it was alleged that Kearney, 57, of Painswick Close, Sarisbury Green, was tiring of his relationship with Paula and killed her after she put pressure on him to leave his partner.

During the first part of the documentary viewers saw Ms Shorter tell Kearney’s daughter that she must be “prepared for us to find out he did this”.

The concluding part Conviction: Murder at the Station will be broadcast on BBC2 next Wednesday at 9pm.