IT was ludicrous to suggest that Swansea prostitute Kirsty Grabham was murdered by someone other than her husband, a barrister said yesterday.

Greg Taylor QC made the comment as he urged jurors to find Paul Grabham guilty of the killing.

The evidence showed the person responsible for Mrs Grabham's death was the defendant, claimed Mr Taylor.

He also claimed Grabham probably waited until the following day before getting rid of the body.

But Grabham's barrister, Christopher Clee QC, said Mrs Grabham had had a dangerous occupation and could have been killed by a client. The prosecution case was that the murder was at 4am, said Mr Clee, but it was possible she was killed "much, much later". The jury heard closing speeches from the prosecution and the defence on day 13 of Grabham's Swansea Crown Court trial.

Today, Mr Justice Butterfield was due to begin summing up the case.

Grabham, aged 26, is accused of murdering his 24- year-old wife on March 28 at their top-floor flat in Rosehill Terrace, Mount Pleasant.

Both worked in the sex industry as prostitutes and had married in 2008, a few weeks after meeting at a Bridgend brothel.

The body of the deceased was found in a suitcase on an embankment by the M4 near Cefn Cribwr on April 6. The defence case is that Grabham had nothing to do with the killing. They had been together at Play nightclub, said Grabham, but he had left her there and travelled home on his own. He crashed out on a sofa — and she was not home when he woke up in the morning.

Mr Taylor, calling for a guilty verdict, yesterday urged the jury to remember the "extremely important and dramatic" evidence given by the Grabhams' neighbours, Kerry Inger and Byron Williams.

They had heard a row between the couple in the early hours of March 28, followed by the sound of furniture being moved about and a hard brush being used.

Mr Williams had described hearing what he thought was the "high-pitched noise" of someone being smothered, said Mr Taylor. Something else that spoke volumes about that night, added the QC, was that an attempted 999 call was made from the Grabhams' flat at 4.01am.

Mr Taylor said the prosecution believed Grabham probably disposed of the body by throwing the case down the embankment on March 29.

"He called the police on March 30 to report her missing and he would hardly have called the police if the case was still in the flat," he told the court. There was also mobile phone evidence suggesting he was near the body site on March 31.

Mr Taylor said it was significant police found Mrs Grabham's toothbrush in a bin at the flat and he had told people her make-up and hair-straighteners were missing. "He was trying to create the impression she had gone to stay at someone else's," said the QC. "But who, apart from Paul Grabham, would have the motive to do that?"

"It is ludicrous to suggest someone else had come into the flat and committed the murder."

Mr Clee, for Grabham, emphasised the defence was not suggesting an intruder killed Mrs Grabham and cleaned up the flat while the defendant was asleep on the sofa. But the defence did dispute the time of death was 4am, he said.

One reason the prosecution had said 4am, he said, was that Mrs Grabham's stomach was found to contain pieces of apple that were believed to be from a sangria drink a witness said she had had at 10pm.

"But if this did not come from sangria at La Tasca, it opens up the possibility that she died much, much later," he told the court.

The defendant was away from the flat for a few hours on the morning of March 28 and for eight hours on March 29 — and it was possible the killing occurred when she was at the flat during one of these periods.

Mr Clee said it was significant Mrs Grabham had a dangerous job — and she had entertained clients at her home. "Don't be misled that she was pursuing some sort of genteel occupation where she was dealing with gentlemen," he added.

During Mr Clee's speech, proceedings were interrupted by the mother of the deceased, Catherine Broomfield, who left the courtroom, shouting at Grabham in the dock: "I hope you're happy."