ONE of the last people to see Kirsty Grabham alive has described her as a bubbly and funny person, and as a girl who was determined to make her troubled marriage work — despite friends urging her to walk out.

Paloma Foley was with Kirsty in Swansea's Play nightclub on the night she was killed — and the two had an emotional heart-to-heart where they talked about Kirsty's hopes and dreams.

And she said Kirsty's death only really hit-home when she saw her tiny pink coffin at her funeral.

The 22-year-old, from Addison Road, Melin, said: "Kirsty was a lovely girl, a little bit of a ditsy blonde. We just clicked straight away, and got on really well.

"She was very bubbly and made me laugh so much."

The two had been part of a group of friends enjoying a night out in the city centre club on March 27 last year. Also with the group was Kirsty's husband, Paul.

Paloma said: "All the girls were out and we were having a good time.

"But later on we saw Kirsty and Paul having an argument in the club — Kirsty came over to us, she was very upset.

"She said Paul was very controlling and wouldn't give her five minutes of peace — he would never let her go out alone with her friends, he always had to go along."

Following the row Paul left the club, but Paloma and Kirsty stayed until the end, and then went to the house of another friend — Lisa Oliver — in Port Tennant.

They called a taxi for Kirsty, and then Paloma described how the pair stood in the kitchen talking.

The mum-of-two said: "We talked about Paul, and how upset Kirsty was that he kept cheating on her. She had turned her life around and really wanted children.We'd all told her she could do so much better than Paul. She was such a bright and pretty girl, but she said she wanted to make her marriage work.

"She said she'd made marriage vows and that she took them very seriously, and wanted to live up to them. We all told her it takes two to make a marriage work. I remember saying to her 'you know you'll have to leave him in the end' but she was determined to prove people wrong, and make her marriage work. She wanted to give Paul the benefit of the doubt."

The pair only had 20 short minutes in that Danygraig Road kitchen before Kirsty's taxi arrived.

"I remember Kirsty had these little strappy stiletto heels and she couldn't get them back on when the taxi arrived. We struggled for a while and then she said 'oh bugger it, I'll carry them'! and we laughed. I am glad my last memories are something happy and funny."

Paloma said she made sure Kirsty got in to the taxi, and asked her to phone when she got home to the Mount Pleasant flat she shared with Paul to let her know she was okay.

In the early hours she got a text from Kirsty saying she was home and that Paul was crashed-out on the sofa and that she'd have the bed to herself. But Paloma never saw Kirsty again.

Leave your Lasting Tribute to Kirsty Grabham

It was a couple of days later when she got the news that Kirsty was missing.

"To be honest I was hoping Kirsty had packed up and left Paul, and had got away," she said.

"Paul said she had gone away and he didn't know where, and he said that she had taken her toothbrush with her — he kept stressing she had taken her toothbrush as if trying to say she was okay.

"Then a few days later he wanted to go out on the town — he didn't seem bothered about where she was.

"But when Kirsty's mum, Catherine, got in touch to ask if we knew where Kirsty was we got worried — Kirsty used to speak to her mum every day, but hadn't been in touch for days."

Read every step of the trial from the beginning

Then came the terrible discovery of Kirsty's body, dumped in a suitcase by the M4 near Bridgend.

"I didn't want to believe it was her," said Paloma. "I kept thinking she would turn-up one day and be okay."

And the former St Joseph's School pupil said her friend's death only really sunk in when she saw Kirsty's coffin at the funeral in St James's Church, Pyle.

She said: "That is when it really hit home that she had gone — it hit me like a ton of bricks."

Later came the murder trial of Paul Grabham — and Paloma was called to give evidence.

"I didn't look at Kirsty's mum in court because I knew I would have burst into tears. And there was Paul, smirking in the dock. He tried to paint Kirsty as something she wasn't.

"I had to watch CCTV from the night she died showing us together in the club, and then going for a taxi, it was so difficult. But afterwards Kirsty's mum squeezed my arm and said 'thank you'."

Paloma added: "Cathy has been so strong through all this, she is an inspiration. "She just wants justice for Kirsty — we all want justice for Kirsty."

Related articles:

Paul Grabham jailed for life for murder of Swansea prostitute wife Kirsty