Overview
- Hotel chef Louise Brittle told Wolverhampton Crown Court the defendant stared at female staff with his eyes wide open and made her feel he was planning something.
- CCTV shown in court tracks a man following Rhiannon Skye Whyte from the Park Inn to the deserted platform, then leaving with a lit phone and later throwing it into a river; police divers recovered the device.
- Prosecutors say seized items including a jacket, ring and sandals bore Ms Whyte’s blood, and that her DNA was found under the defendant’s fingernails.
- A postmortem outlined 23 stab wounds, 11 penetrating the skull, with a brain stem injury identified as the cause of death.
- The Crown says the man returned to the hotel after buying a drink and was seen dancing and laughing; the alleged weapon, a screwdriver, has not been found as the defendant denies the charges and claims misidentification.