THE man accused of murdering Heather Barnett was forced to change his story last year over a green towel found in her flat, Winchester Crown Court heard on Tuesday.

In police interviews and witness statements over several years, Danilo Restivo had never previously mentioned the towel which was over the back of a chair at the crime scene.

But, Michael Bowes QC, cross examining the 39-year-old Italian told him: “On May 19 last year, you were confronted with a towel that had your DNA on it and you said you have never seen it before.

“Overnight you decided to come up with a better story.”

The following day, May 20, Restivo told police he had given Heather the towel as a colour match for curtains he was ordering for his then girlfriend Fiamma.

Mr Bowes told him: “I suggest you never gave Heather Barnett a towel and that the reason your DNA was on it, was that you wiped your face on it after you killed her.”

Restivo denied this.

Mr Bowes said Restivo “used the pretence” of buying curtains from Heather Barnett to plan her murder.

“I suggest you went back the following week, went into her lounge and killed her, didn’t you?”

Restivo replied: “No, don’t insinuate things that are not true. I won’t accept that, I was at Nacro all that day.”

Mr Bowes said there were inconsistencies in the defendant’s story about what had happened a few days earlier when he visited Heather’s flat.

Mr Bowes said that on oath, Restivo claimed he only went into the hallway, but in a witness statement six days after Heather’s death, he had said he went into the lounge where the seamstress showed him a catalogue of curtains.

“You must have known the layout of the lounge, you must have been there some time,” said Mr Bowes.

Restivo, 39, of Chatsworth Road, denies killing Ms Barnett at her flat in Capstone Road, Bournemouth on November 12 2002.

During Restivo’s second day in the witness box, Mr Bowes had earlier told him: “Both Elisa Claps and Heather Barnett had their hair cut after they were murdered. Do you agree that is a similar feature?”

Restivo replied: “I don’t know.”

Mr Bowes added: “And do you agree that both having their bra cut and their trousers lowered is a similar feature?”

Restivo said: “I haven’t killed either of them.”

Mr Bowes said: “Does it look like the killer of both victims liked cutting hair?”

Restivo said he didn’t know.

Restivo also denied that he soaked the trainers he was wearing on the day of Heather’s murder in bleach so as to erase any trace of blood.

“I did it because Fiamma told me they smelled and I did not know it was bleach. I thought it was soap for cleaning the floor.

“Up to last year, until I received the paperwork for the case, I did not know that bleach destroys DNA. I am not a forensics expert.”

But Mr Bowes said: “I suggest you are lying and that you bleached them to get rid of any contamination from the murder scene.”

Restivo repeatedly told the court that he was at his training course at Nacro when Heather was murdered.

Earlier in lengthy exchanges about hair cutting, Mr Bowes suggested that Restivo kept locks of girls’ hair as “a trophy” and he had taken one of these trophies to place in the hand of Heather Barnett when he killed her.

The defendant said it was not true.

The case continues today with more cross examination.