Woman 'strangled by secret lover'

Beverley Parkhouse's body was found in a bed with a burnt duvet

A man strangled the woman he was having a "secret" affair with and then tried to set the bedroom where they met on fire, Cardiff Crown Court has heard.

Royston David Moore, 52, of Nantymoel, denies killing Beverley Parkhouse, 45, at her father's house in Ogmore Vale, Bridgend in September 2006.

Mrs Parkhouse, also of Nantymoel, would regularly "smuggle" Mr Moore into her room after he flashed the car lights.

The jury heard he later admitted the killing to inmates in Cardiff jail.

Outlining its case, the prosecution claimed the defendant was "both jealous and yet tiring of their affair" when he killed Mrs Parkhouse, disabled the fire alarm and set her bedding alight.

Gerard Elias QC said Mr Moore corresponded with other women via a dating agency after he started their relationship.

Moore was in the bedroom with Beverley Parkhouse that night but his motive for killing her we shall never know Gerard Elias QC, prosecuting

The pair met twice a week at his home or at her father's where she often stayed after her mother died six months earlier.

Mr Elias told jurors: "She would smuggle him to an upstairs bedroom at her recently-widowed father's home where they would spend a few hours together before he left.

He said on the night of her death the couple met at a social club andthen at Mrs Parkhouse's father's home.

"The next morning Mr Palmer woke up expecting to see his daughter in the kitchen but when she failed to come downstairs by 11.30am he went to her bedroom."

Mrs Parkhouse, a mother-of-one, was dead in bed, Mr Elias said. She had been strangled or suffocated and attempts had been made to set fire to the duvet.

Easy going

The jury was told body fluids linked to Mr Moore were found on the duvet.

Mr Elias said there was no evidence of a break-in that night and the killer was let in.

"Whoever set fire to the bedding was familiar with the house - he located and disabled the smoke alarm.

"Moore was in the bedroom with Beverley Parkhouse that night but his motive for killing her we shall never know."

The court heard Mr Moore advertised with the Dating Point agency, describing himself as "honest" and "easy going".

Six days after Mrs Parkhouse died he was in touch with a woman he met through the agency.

Mr Moore admits he and Mrs Parkhouse followed their usual routine with him flashing his car lights in the street behind her father's house on the night she died, but denies going in to the house.

Prisoners

The court heard he said they had spent and hour or two in his car after she gave him a surprise gift of a signet ring.

The court heard Beverley Parkhouse had been married for 27 years and her husband Andre had no idea about the year-long affair.

After his arrest, the jury was told Mr Moore told two prisoners at Cardiff that he had strangled Mrs Parkhouse and taken her mobile phone, before leaving the house.

The trial continues.