The man accused of murdering a Narberth pensioner for the PIN number of her bank card was seen by several people near the murder scene, a jury heard on Friday.

John William Mason, aged 55, was said by the prosecution to be distinctive because of burns scars and the people who saw him included a woman who had known him for 18 years.

Mason, of Llandissilio, denies beating to death Angelika Dries-Jenkinks, on June 1 last year, at her home at Providence Hill, on the outskirts of Narberth.

The prosecution at Swansea crown court argue that following the murder Mason went on a mini spending spree financed by Mrs Dries-Jenkins' money. The shopping included a visit to Argos in Haverfordwest where he was caught on CCTV cameras having a finger measured for a wedding ring.

Ceri Barnes, a school crossing patrol officer in Narberth, told the jury that she and a further 11 members of a village walking group were at Narberth Bridge about 10.40am on June 1 when she saw Mason walking in the direction of Providence Hill.

Miss Barnes said she had known the defendant for around 18 years.

Her mother Ruth Barnes told the court she also saw Mason and noticed that one of the walking group, Keith Morris, spoke to him in passing.

Anne-Marie Gallagher, a chiropodist, of Bridge Hill, Narberth, told the court she was leaving her home at around 10.45am when she saw Mason, who she was also able to recognise.

She told the jury she felt she was being stared at.

“He looked very intense. I remember thinking,‘I wonder what he’s doing walking past my house,'" she added.

Christopher Clee QC, the barrister defending Mason, asked her if she realised that Mason's mother lived next door to the victim, which could explain why he was in the area.

She said she had not been aware.

The jury also heard, via a statement, from the registrar of Haverfordwest, Barbara Eynon, who said that Mason and his fiancee Denise Evans had arranged their wedding for June 10. Thirty guests were due to attend.

But by then Mason had been arrested for murder and held in custody.

Mr Harrington had told the jury that a possible motive for the murder had been that Mason, who was unemployed, had needed money for the wedding.

During further evidence the jury was told how Mrs Dries-Jenkinks' body had been found by her daughter Eleanor.

Eleanor Dries-Jenkins, a teacher at a comprehensive near Oxford but who grew up in the house at Providence Hill, said she had been on holiday with friends near Rome and flew back to the Uk on June 3. She immediately drove to Narberth to surprise her mother, who would have been 67 two days later.

She told the jury she found her mother "obviously dead" lying on her side on the living room, having suffered massive head injuries.

She said she remembered dialling 999 and thinking that the operator asked "ridiculous" questions, such as whether her mother was unconscious and could she find a pulse.

"I said it was way past checking her pulse," added Eleanor Dries-Jenkins.   Gustavo Vas Falcao, a paediatrician at Witheybush Hospital in Haverfordwest and a close friend of the victim, said he had been called to the scene by Eleanor.

He got there before paramedics and went into the living room, leaving Eleanor outside of the house.

“I squatted down and looked at her, she was clearly dead,” he said.

The trial continues.