Nicola Payne murder trial: Missing mum 'excited about house move'

Nicola Payne had been excited about a forthcoming house move at the time of her disappearance, a court has heard.

Her brother, Dale Payne, said the 18-year-old had not been depressed at all when she went missing in Coventry on 14 December 1991.

He was speaking at the trial of two men accused of her murder.

Miss Payne has not been seen since she left her boyfriend and child to walk a short distance to her parents' house. Her body has never been found.

Nigel Barwell and his brother-in-law, Thomas O'Reilly, both aged 51 and from Coventry, deny her murder.

Michelle Cooke, who lived in the same house as Miss Payne, said she was in good spirits on the day she went missing, the court was told.

Jurors heard the statement Mrs Cooke made to police two days after Miss Payne disappeared.

She said: "Jason and Nicky got up. They were both in good moods. They were play-fighting.

"They had a conversation about her dad finishing the stairs at the house they had just bought together."

Another of Miss Payne's brothers, Nigel Payne, told the court of several anonymous phone calls made to the family after she went missing.

Mr Payne said he had taped one phone call from a man who said he had seen his sister with a man towards Stratford.

The caller had said this man was responsible for more than one girl going missing and said that Nicola was dead.

The prosecution alleges Miss Payne was abducted and murdered as she crossed wasteland known as the Black Pad.

Mr Barwell, of Copperas Street, and Mr O'Reilly, of Ribble Road, were both 27 at the time of her disappearance.

Miss Payne had a seven-month-old son with her boyfriend Jason Cook when she went missing.

The trial continues.