THEY have spent eight years trying to rebuild their lives following a devastating tragedy they describe as every parent’s worst nightmare.

Retired engineer Phil Cross and his wife Jenny were left heartbroken when the body of their daughter – Saints steward Paula Poolton – was found dumped in the boot of her car.

Two years later they saw her secret lover jailed for life for her murder and declared: “Justice has been done.”

Now the elderly couple are facing fresh heartache following the decision to screen a TV documentary charting Roger Kearney’s bid for freedom.

Paula, 40, of Course Park Crescent, Titchfield, began a clandestine affair with the Royal Mail worker in the summer of 2008.

Jurors at Kearney’s trial at Winchester Crown Court heard how he stabbed her to death three months later after she put pressure on him to leave his partner.

Paula’s body was found in the back of her Peugeot 206, which was parked near Swanwick railway station.

Kearney was found guilty of killing her and told he must serve at least 15 years – but has always protested his innocence.

After losing an appeal he took his case to the Criminal Case Review Committee (CCRC), an independent body created by the government to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice.

Now a two-part documentary titled 'Conviction: Murder at the Station', will be screened later this month after the CCRC agreed to review the case.

But Mr and Mrs Cross are furious at the decision to screen the programme – and the language being used to promote it.

Made by the award-winning Raw TV it follows the progress of Louise Shorter from the specialist charity Inside Justice as she revisits the police investigation.

Publicity material describes the show as a “compelling real-life thriller” full of twists and turns that take Ms Shorter on an “incredible emotional roller-coaster”.

But Mr and Mrs Cross, who sat through Kearney’s six-week trial at Winchester Crown Court, say they remain convinced of his guilt.

Mr Cross, 81, said: “Paula should be allowed to rest in peace – and we should be allowed to grieve in peace.

“We have already been through all the pain of Paula’s death and Kearney’s trial.

"He thought he’d committed the perfect murder but there’s no doubt in our mind that he killed her.

"The 12 jurors all agreed he was guilty and everyone I spoke to afterwards said it was the right verdict.

“I can’t see how a TV company could come up with something the police didn’t find during a major investigation.

"The officers involved in the inquiry were marvellous and did their jobs properly.

"Kearney is just trying to convince everyone that someone else did it."

Daily Echo:

PICTURED: Police investigating the murder

Paula vanished on October 17, 2008 and her body was not found for 11 days.

During that time, jurors were told, Kearney tried to cover his tracks by pretending she was still alive and leaving messages on her mobile.

Mrs Cross, 74, said: “When he rang her phone he forgot to say ‘Paula where are you? Everyone’s looking for you’, which is something an innocent man would have said.”

She and her husband have vowed to sit through the documentary – despite the pain they know it will cause them.

But Mrs Cross, who is recovering from a kidney transplant, said the thought of the show being broadcast was causing her sleepless nights.

Speaking from the couple’s home at Sarisbury Green she said: “I’ve hardly had a wink of sleep – it’s on my mind the whole time.”

Mr and Mrs Cross have decided not to ask the BBC to cancel the screening, saying it would be a “waste of breath”.

But Mrs Cross is angry at the title, saying it wrongly implies that Paula was murdered by someone on a train or the station, and is calling for it to be changed.

Police launched a massive search for Paula after she went missing.

During Kearney’s trial it emerged her husband Ricky was arrested on suspicion of murder on the night her body was found.

He was later released without charge after detectives established he had nothing to do with her brutal death.

Kearney, 57, of Painswick Close, Sarisbury Green, wept after jurors unanimously found him guilty of murdering Paula by stabbing her eight times.

In a statement read out after the verdict her parents and husband said: “We are all relieved that justice has been done for Paula.”