A SWANSEA man who denies murdering his wife Kirsty Grabham said he did not know how her blood ended up on his jeans and boots.

Paul Grabham was adamant that he did not kill Kirsty or dump her body in a suitcase.

At his trial he claimed the last time he saw her was when they were in a Swansea nightclub.

He also told how, later that day, he went to a city centre massage parlour and paid a woman for sex.

Grabham, aged 26, was giving evidence from the witness box on day 12 of the case at Swansea Crown Court.

He is accused of murdering 24-year-old Mrs Grabham at their flat in Rosehill Terrace, Mount Pleasant, in the early hours of March 28 after they arrived home separately from a night out.

According to the prosecution, he then put her body in a suitcase she owned and dumped it on an M4 embankment between Swansea and Bridgend.

The couple both worked in the sex industry as prostitutes, jurors heard.

During yesterday's evidence Grabham was asked by his barrister, Christopher Clee QC: "Did you kill your wife?"

"No, I did not," he replied

Later, questioned by the judge, Grabham added: "I have no idea who killed her."

He told the court that he first met the deceased in 2002. But five years later they became reacquainted after meeting at a Bridgend brothel where she worked.

They began a relationship at the end of 2007 and got married two months later, but there were frequent rows and during these she would punch him and throw things at him.

Grabham told the court that cocaine was a big part of their relationship and when they first got together they were spending about £1,000 a week on it.

But by the start of last year they had reduced their use of the drug because Mrs Grabham wanted to try for a baby.

The court heard that on the evening of March 27 the Grabhams both drank alcohol and snorted cocaine at the flat before going into the city centre.

They had a drink at La Tasca in Wind Street before going with friends to nearby Play nightclub.

Grabham said there were no arguments between his wife and him, but at one point she complained that he had spilt a drink on her.

"As far as I was concerned, Kirsty and I were getting on fine," he said. "We were having a drink and a laugh."

Grabham told Mr Clee he got extremely drunk at the club and left by himself.

He was home before 2.40am, but he could not remember paying the taxi fare or climbing the stairs to the flat.

His last memory, before he fell asleep on a sofa, was tripping over in the lounge and kicking his boots off.

Grabham said the next thing he was aware of was waking up at about 9.15am. He had not seen Mrs Grabham at the flat, he said, and he knew nothing about an attempted 999 call that had been made from there at about 4am.

Questioned by Mr Clee, he admitted that just before 9.30am he contacted an internet site for people looking for casual sex and set up an account with it.

It was a site he had used in the past - and one that had caused "issues" between his wife and him.

Grabham told the court that at 2.30pm that day he withdrew £50 from a cash machine in Walter Road and went to a massage parlour in nearby St Helen's Road. There he paid a woman for sex.

The court heard that over the next few days Grabham made a number of calls to his wife's mobile. But these were made because he was worried, he insisted, not because he was "laying a false trail".

During these days, he also contacted a number of her friends and relatives to ask if they had seen her and made a number of visits to friends and relatives of his in the Port Talbot and Bridgend areas.

But he was adamant that he did not go to a lane near the M4 where the body was later found on an embankment.

He insisted that following his wife's disappearance he did not notice any blood on the walls of their flat. Nor did he buy bleach from a nearby shop and try to clean up any blood.

"I don't know how her blood ended up on my boots or on my jeans that were in the washing machine," he said.

He also denied disposing of Mrs Grabham's toothbrush in a bin – and insisted that a rug missing from the floor had been thrown out in mid-March because it was covered in cat fur.

Grabham further claimed never to have seen the suitcase owned by his wife that was found on April 6 with her body in it.

postnews@swwmedia.co.uk

In tonight's Evening Post:

'Wife's work as prostitute was just regular job'