THE CAR of dead Saints steward Paula Poolton was moved during the days she was missing, a court heard.

Jurors at Winchester Crown Court were told by defence witness Julia Moffat that she saw no cars parked in Duncan Road, Park Gate, on one of the days before Paula’s body was found there.

She could not be specific about which day – she said it was either October 24, 27 or 28 – as her car had broken down and she was using the train from nearby Swanwick railway station to get to work.

She said: “I noticed at some stage during that time on one particular day there were no cars there at all. As you are going down the hill there is a substation on your right hand side, on that right hand side there were no cars there at all.

“Normally there are cars parked there and I thought that this might be quite important.”

She added a police officer later told her that her evidence would “put a spanner in the works”.

Earlier in the case jurors heard from several witnesses, who when put together, say they saw a black Peugeot parked near the electricity substation in Duncan Road, on each of the 11 days 40-year-old Paula was missing.

Paula, of Course Park Crescent, Titchfield, was found stabbed to death and dumped in the boot of her black Peugeot 206, on October 28, 2008, in Duncan Road.

When asked by prosecutor Nicholas Haggan QC if she could have been mistaken, Miss Moffat said: “I would not have phoned the police if I was not sure about something.”

Earlier the jury heard evidence from the senior investigating officer Det Chief Insp Darren O’Callaghan.

The defence asked if police seriously considered the possibility during the investigation that a paranoid schizophrenic, known to be near Swanwick station on the day Paula went missing, may have been involved in her murder.

Det Chief Insp O’Callaghan said that a certain number of offenders known to police were investigated and that officers were encouraged to look into broad lines of inquiry.

When asked if abduction was considered he said: “That was certainly done however as the evidence and picture unfolds from some of these general inquiries, they also tend to take you in a particular direction.”

Roger Kearney, 57, of Painswick Close, Sarisbury Green, denies murdering Paula, his lover of three months.

Proceeding.