A HAMPSHIRE Royal Mail worker accused of murdering his secret lover, Saints steward Paula Poolton was tiring of his affair with her, the court heard.

Winchester Crown Court heard how 40-year-old Paula was putting pressure on Roger Kearney to leave his partner and move in with her.

Kearney, 57, of Painswick Close, Park Gate, denies murdering Paula who was found stabbed to death in the boot of her car in October 2008.

Prosecutor Nicholas Haggan told the court that Paula, of Course Park Crescent, Titchfield, had started to put pressure on their relationship by registering with estate agents.

He said: "She was keen to set up home with him and she began to bring pressure to bare to that effect.

"The defendant on the other hand was less keen to progress his relationship with Mrs Poolton.

"If anything he may well have been tiring of it."

The jury were told how the couple were due to meet on the evening she disappeared on October 17, 2008.

The court also heard how Kearney spoke about Paula in the past tense when interviewed by police days before her body was found.

The prosecution say that Kearney lied about his movements during the night that Paula disappeared to fabricate an alibi.

And Mr Haggan, said: "A painstaking police investigation over a lengthy period produced a huge volume of fragments of evidence.

"These little fragments of evidence fit together we say just like the picture of a jigsaw.

"And as the pieces of that jigsaw were assembled the picture became clearer and clearer."We say he had to fabricate an alibi because he murdered Mrs Poolton."