Gosport murder trial: Jury told of man seen near Kelly-Anne Case's home that morning

Winchester Crown Court heard there was a man spotted close to the scene of the crime and was told of how the victim revealed she had to be ‘careful’ after men broke into her flat.

Kelly-Anne Case’s alleged killer Brendan Rowan-Davies, 29, has repeatedly denied he was behind the murder of the 27-year-old on July 30 in Grange Crescent, Gosport.

After a fire was started, she was found by firefighters naked on her bed with her wrists bound - with blood across her home.

Rowan-Davies, of Trinity Close, Gosport, was at her house the previous night with a friend of his. He admits going back to her home in the morning; he says to get tobacco he had left there. He denies that he tied her up and set fire to the house and says instead he was confronted by a mystery armed assailant who was attacking Ms Case.

Prosecutor William Mousley QC, pouring scorn on his account, said the story was ‘lies’.

‘You have made it all up since the police interviews to fit the evidence police have gathered?’ the barrister, building up to a crescendo, said.

‘No,’ Rowan-Davies hit back.

Mr Mousley, turning to the accused, looking him square in the eyes with his voice elevated, then asked: ‘Brendan Rowan-Davies….did you kill Kelly-Anne Case?’

‘No,’ the defendant fired back.

Judge, Mr Justice Neil Garnham asked what the defendant was doing in Ms Case’s home after arriving back at 7.46am. ‘You were seen coming out 40 minutes later. Can you tell me what you were doing in that time?’

Rowan-Davies responded: ‘I was trying to keep myself alive and keep calm. I had a knife to my throat and had been pushed.’

Rowan-Davies’ lawyer, Kate Lumsdon QC, then cast doubt over the prosecution’s case.

Christopher Pocock gave a statement to police at the time saying he saw an ’odd’ man loitering near the scene of the crime when he drove past at 6.55am. He was called as a witness by the defence in the trial.

‘There was someone stood by the bins. I thought “that’s strange” and carried on to work,’ he said. ‘Then later in the morning two fire engines flew past.’

Asked what the man was doing, Mr Pocock said: ‘He stood there looking vacant. It was odd to see someone there. He was looking at the houses at Grange Crescent.’

He added: ‘It was odd because in 10 years of driving along the road at the same time every day I’ve never seen anyone stood there before or since.’

The witness added: ‘He was fairly tall, scruffy and unshaven. He had a baseball cap on.’

Ms Lumsdon read out text messages from Ms Case to a friend the day before she was murdered.

One read: ‘Just got to be careful. I ain’t been back to mine since.’

Another one said ‘some dude smashed up my house and three lads came through’.

Rowan-Davies denies murder and arson.

(Proceeding)