Witness tells Kluk trial of hearing 'horrible' screams

They had sounded like a woman being grabbed and were short and loud, the witness said.

The jury also heard that Peter Tobin, 60, the Glasgow church handyman accused of murdering Ms Kluk, 23, had been arrested in a hospital in London, where he had given a false name and had been admitted for a "fictitious complaint".

A constable had posed as a nurse to identify Tobin, who said he was "relieved" the police were there, and added: "You have been looking for me."

Ms Kluk stayed at St Patrick's Church, Anderston, last summer during a working holiday in Scotland and had an affair with a married man. Her last contact with him was via a text message on the afternoon of Sunday, 24 September. Her body was found the following Friday, hidden under the floor of the church.

Leigh Brown, 47, told the High Court in Edinburgh that she lived in a block of high-rise flats that overlooked the church.

She said she remembered 24 September as a day she and her husband had been changing the blinds and curtains and washing the windows. She had taken a break to watch EastEnders.

"All the windows were open ... I can only describe what I thought was a loud scream and a short one, within seconds of each other," Mrs Brown said.

"I have never claimed it to be anything, but when the police came round, I mentioned it. These things do happen where we live, but it was a horrible noise. That is why it stuck in my head. I immediately went up to the window, but I could not see a thing.

"To me, it would be somebody getting grabbed. That is the only way I could describe it. It was female because it was quite high. It was just loud and horrid."

Mrs Brown said it had happened during the first 20 minutes of EastEnders, which began at 3:05pm. She was pressed on the timing by Dorothy Bain, an advocate-depute, who suggested the screams might have been later, but Mrs Brown said she had missed only the first 20 minutes of the television soap during the week and that was all she watched of the omnibus.

Her husband, Andrew Brown, 46, gave a timing of 1:55pm, saying he was sure he had looked at a clock, but accepted he must be wrong if EastEnders had not started until 3:05pm. He rejected Ms Bain's suggestion he had heard the scream "nearer to 4pm".

Tobin gave a statement to police at St Patrick's Church on the night of Monday, 25 September, when Ms Kluk had been reported missing. Yesterday, jurors were shown stills from CCTV footage taken at Edinburgh's St Andrew Square bus station on the night of Tuesday, 26 September. A male in the shots was identified as Tobin.

On Thursday, 28 September, Tobin, under the name James Kelly, attended the accident and emergency department of University College Hospital, London. He complained of chest pain and was referred the next day to the National Neurology and Neurosurgery Hospital.

He was seen by Dr Nick Losseff, a neurologist, who could find no reason for his reported symptoms. The doctor had learned the patient's true name was Peter Tobin, and he said: "I formed the opinion, based on the overall clinical circumstances, including the fact that he had been admitted under a fictitious identity, that the medical complaint was fictitious as well." PC Alan Murray, 37, of the Metropolitan Police, said he was asked by police in Scotland to go to the hospital around 10pm on 30 September to see whether the patient fitted a description given for Tobin. The officer said he put on a nurse's top and was introduced as Alan.

He reported back to the Scottish police and then returned to the room, wearing his police jacket. The officer told the jury: "He [Tobin] said, 'I knew you were police. I am relieved you are here.' I said, 'Are you ...' and he interrupted me, saying, '... Peter Tobin, yes. You have been looking for me'."

On Tuesday, Dr Julie McAdam, 35, a pathologist, told the court she could not rule out the possibility that Miss Kluk had still been alive when she was put under the floor of the church.

Yesterday in cross-examination, Donald Findlay, the defence counsel, referred to some "ridiculous reporting" in the media and asked the pathologist if there was any evidence that Miss Kluk had been alive when she was in the void. "Is there a scrap of evidence?" he asked. Dr McAdam said: "There is no evidence she was alive in the void."

Tobin denies raping and murdering Ms Kluk by beating her about the head with a weapon like a table leg and stabbing her 19 times with a knife.

In a special defence to the rape allegation, he states he and Ms Kluk had sex with her consent.

The trial continues.