THE brother of Elisa Claps told a court yesterday of his frantic search for his missing sister.

Giving evidence in the Heather Barnett murder trial at Winchester Crown Court, Gildo Claps said his 16-year-old sister was “perfectly happy” in the days before she disappeared from Potenza in Italy in 1993.

The prosecution claim there are striking similarities between the death of Elisa Clapps and that of mother-of-two Heather Barnett in Bournemouth nine years later. They claim both killings were the work of one man.

Gildo said he had been with his sister in the summer of that year when defendant Danilo Restivo had been very “insistent” about taking a walk with Elisa.

Gildo “abruptly” told Restivo she did not want to go with him and told him to go away, the court heard.

Speaking about September 12, Gildo said his sister and friend Eliana left their home at about 11.20am to go to mass at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity.

“That was the last time I saw my sister,” he said.

Gildo said between 12.30pm and 12.45pm, Eliana buzzed the house looking for Elisa.

Eliana told Gildo they had come out of church and lost sight of each other.

Eliana, Gildo and his friend went looking separately for Elisa but found nothing.

Gildo said: “I had a funny feeling, a strange sensation. I knew Elisa too well and what Eliana had relayed to me didn’t convince me properly.”

Gildo challenged Eliana some more.

He said: “At that point she told me the truth. They never went to church for mass. Elisa had an arrangement with Danilo Restivo to meet him behind the church of the Trinity. She had seen her walking towards the Trinita church and from that moment she hadn’t seen any more of her.

“When I heard the name Danilo Restivo my anxiety increased even further.”

Gildo said he telephoned Restivo and he sounded “very agitated”.

Restivo said he had seen Elisa that morning when they met behind the altar of the Church of Trinity and stayed for 10-15 minutes before she left, Gildo told the court.

Gildo later returned to the church and searched it but found nothing. He couldn’t access the part of the church which leads to the loft because it was locked and only the priest had the key, he added.

Elisa’s remains were found in the loft of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity last year.