FORMER Saints striker Leroy Whale fell out with alleged attempted murderess Cathy Bartlett over free tickets for the match against Chelsea at St Marys.

Mr Whale told a jury yesterday at Winchester Crown Court that she had worked as his personal assistant when he was sales director of Futurama, a corporate branding company.

Bartlett, 30, is accused of setting fire to her mother's house in April to kill her sister Rachael. The court has heard the motive was to cover her tracks after Bartlett had stolen £100,000 from her sister.

Mr Whale said Bartlett worked for Futurama in 2006-07, with a contract in Nursling, the last year as his PA.

He said: "She was hard-working, a good PA. However there were always problems, family issues, burglaries, cars breaking down."

When the Nursling contract ended Bartlett was released by Futurama, the court heard.

Mr Whale said after not hearing from her for seven years she contacted him in 2014 to ask him to play in a charity golf event she was organising.

Later Bartlett gave him free tickets for Saints homes matches last year against Manchester United and Everton.

He described Bartlett as a "quite a funny girl" with whom his girlfriend Bernadette got on well.

But they fell out after Mr Whale asked her to get him a hospitality box at a reduced price for the Chelsea match. Bartlett said she could but then let him down.

"As the match got closer I texted her asking for the tickets. She said they were coming, she had to go to Portsmouth to get them, but her car broke down and she couldn't get them. The lady was taking the tickets to her but her car had a blow-out. I said if it is not going to happen let me know as I have work colleagues coming from London, it's not a problem. If they have let you down please let me know. I phoned the club and they said they had no booking for it.

"I had to go to the games and get tickets scattered around the ground for my friends."

Asked by Charles Gabb, prosecuting, if he thought he had been lied to by Bartlett, Mr Whale replied: "I did, yes. It was a shame, I thought we had some sort of relationship as a friend, and for her to do that. My girlfriend liked her and there was no need for her (Bartlett) to do that."

He texted to ask her to return a signed Saints shirt. She never did, said Mr Whale.

Questioned by Andy Houston, defending, Mr Whale denied being lent £9,000 from Bartlett.

He said he had given her valuable memorabilia, including Beatles and Mohammed Ali, for her to sell. He had hoped for £10,000 but Bartlett told him they had only sold for £4,000. He never saw any receipts or bank statements. Bartlett had lent him £5,000 which he had repaid with £500 on top.

The trial also heard from fire investigators about the arson at the semi bungalow.

Robin Furniss said the seat of the fire was between the second and fourth step on the stairs, with petrol ignited by a naked flame.

Mr Furniss said all the windows in the bungalow had been shut which meant the poison gases such as carbon monoxide built up very quickly.

Firefighters used a ventilator fan and high pressure mist to get rid of the highly flammable vapours and kill the flames.

He said there had been a serious risk to life. Crucially Rachael had shut the door of her upstairs room which prevented the flames and toxic gases from getting in and allowed her to climb out of the Velux window and get down from the roof.

"It was not a fire she could have gone through. It would have killed her quickly," said Mr Furniss. "The door helped save her life. But it would not have held back the fire for very long.

"Without a smoke alarm the ground floor occupants were very fortunate to have been woken by the fire."

Rachael was knocked unconscious when she fell from the roof. Bartlett and her mother Frances suffered smoke inhalation.

Bartlett denies attempted murder, causing arson with intent to endanger life and ten counts of fraud.

Proceeding.