THE man who discovered the dead body of Swansea prostitute Kirsty Grabham thought at first it was a mannequin, jurors heard.

Neath lorry driver Julian Bristow raised the alarm after spotting a suitcase on an embankment near the M4.

After partially unzipping the case he saw a hand and thought it was part of a mannequin.

But he then saw hair matted with blood and realised it was the body of a young woman.

The discovery of Mrs Grabham's corpse was described on day four of the Swansea Crown Court trial of her 25-year-old husband, Paul Grabham.

Grabham denies murdering his 24-year-old wife at their top-floor flat in Rosehill Terrace, Mount Pleasant, in the early hours of March 28 last year.

It is alleged that, following the killing, he put her body in a suitcase she owned and dumped it.

The couple both worked as prostitutes and had got married after meeting at a brothel in Bridgend.

Yesterday the prosecution read out a statement made by Mr Bristow, a delivery driver employed by a firm in Llandarcy.

Mr Bristow said that on April 6 he was delivering propane gas in the Cefn Cribwr area and just before 9am he stopped on a road near an M4 bridge to do some paperwork.

He then spotted a black suitcase in undergrowth.

Mr Bristow said that, out of curiosity, he decided to investigate as the case looked "quite bulky" and seemed to contain something.

He opened the zip about 12 inches and saw a "white and wrinkled" left hand with two rings on it. He immediately felt "uncomfortable" but believed he had come across some kind of mannequin.

Then, as he opened the case further, he saw blonde hair matted with blood.

"As a result I realised it was not a mannequin dummy but the body of a female," he told the police.

The court heard that one of the first officers to arrive was Detective Constable Gary Evans, a crime scene investigator.

He described finding a nearby impression in the earth and took this to be the "landing site" as it corresponded to the shape of the case.

"My thinking was that the case had been deposited over the side of the motorway bridge and had rolled a few feet before its final resting place," he said.

Among other witnesses yesterday was Swansea man Jonathan Draper, who began a relationship with Kirsty Wilkinson — as she then was — after meeting her in the Spinning Wheel pub in the city's Sketty Park area in 2006.

For a time they shared a house in Neath Road, Plasmarl, and later they moved to Rosehill Terrace.

Mr Draper said that during their relationship they had a number of rows and on five occasions she called the police.

"We'd be just arguing and Kirsty would ring 999 on her mobile," he said.

He also told the court how, from time to time, she would self-harm by using a knife to cut her arms and legs.

During their relationship, she often disappeared for days at a time without telling him where she was going.

Mr Draper said they eventually split up after he suffered a cut nose in a "violent domestic" on Christmas Day, 2007.

Also called by the prosecution yesterday was Mr Draper's mother, Beverley Draper, a nurse. She broke down in the witness box when shown the suitcase in which the body was found.

"I gave this case to Kirsty," said Mrs Draper.

Mrs Draper said of the deceased: "She was a very kind and loving individual who cared about children, the elderly and animals.

"But she had a chaotic lifestyle and could become volatile — and when she drank, she always drank to excess."

Mrs Draper also wept when she described the injured and "absolutely distraught" state her son was in following the row that ended the relationship.

Earlier the court heard from forensic scientist Sarah Short, who analysed what was found in Mrs Grabham's stomach during a post-mortem examination.

The prosecution case is that these were the remnants of red and green apples from a sangria drink that she had at La Tasca in Wind Street, Swansea, during the late evening of March 27.

Stomach surgeon John Payne-James told the jury the findings had a relevance to time of death because her stomach would have emptied within six hours.

It meant she must have consumed the apples within six hours of her death, he said.

This morning, the jury of six men and six women were due to accompany the judge, lawyers and court officials on a site visit to inspect the Rosehill Terrace flat where Mrs Grabham was allegedly murdered.

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