The prosecutor in the Laura Donnelly murder trial told the jury yesterday that the young woman was a silent witness to her own horrifying death.

Mr Norman Ritchie, addressing the jury, reminded members how traces of semen were discovered in the 22-year-old's body plus tell-tale fibres from a green shirt.

When DNA-tested, the semen was linked to 21-year-old Thomas Brophy, of Lochinver Crescent, Paisley, who denies strangling and raping Miss donnelly of Thistle Street, also Paisley, in the ground of Ferguslie Cricket Club last July.

Mr Ritchie said there was a one billion to one chance of it being anyone else and he told the jury that this evidence was enough in itself to convict Mr Brophy.

He also reminded the jury that the fibres matched those from the material of a shirt owned by Mr Brophy. Mr Ritchie told the jury there was other evidence which made out a compelling case against the man - he lived locally and there was evidence to suggest that he knew Miss Donnelly.

A man matching Mr Brophy's description had also been seen just 10 feet away from her at the spot where it was alleged she was grabbed, dragged through a gate and taken to the spot where she was raped and strangled.

Mr Ritchie claimed her possessions were found on a building site close to the route Mr Brophy would have taken home. He also claimed Mr Brophy had originally lied to police when he said that he was at home with his father all night.

During the trial at the High Court in Glasgow, the jury heard how Miss Donnelly was killed as she made her way back home after being at a disco with friends. She twice turned down an offer to get her a taxi.

Mr Ritchie said: ''It was a fatal decision, but one might think that in any civilised society a young woman is entitled to take a comparatively short walk to her home on a warm summer's night. She got a short distance from her house and was taking her keys out. She was that close.

''That night her path home crossed with someone else and she was abducted, pulled in through the gate to the cricket club and taken across the grounds.

''She had a horrifying death. She was raped and strangled and her body discarded and her possessions scattered in a building site.

''I am the public accuser and the finger of accusation is pointed at Thomas Brophy. You may think he is evil, you may thing he is not, but there's no doubt the crime itself was truly wicked.''

Mr Ritchie also reminded the jury of the screams heard by witnesses at the same time as the figure of Laura was seen on a CCTV video camera just seconds before.

The trial continues.