THE man accused of raping and strangling Miss Laura Donnelly, 22, after she left a disco had earlier propositioned a woman, a court heard yesterday.

Mr Thomas Brophy, 20, it was alleged, plied the woman with drinks in a pub, tried to kiss her and fondled her leg, then propositioned her for sex.

Mr Brophy, of Lochinver Crescent, Paisley, denies raping and murdering Miss Donnelly, of Thistle Street, Paisley, on July 31 last year in the grounds of Ferguslie Cricket Club at Corsebar Road.

The High Court in Glasgow also heard from a doctor and young woman coming back from a wedding who said they heard screams near the spot where Miss Donnelly is alleged to have been murdered.

An off duty constable also revealed he may have seen the killer stalking Miss Donnelly as he drove with his family to Glasgow Airport to go on holiday.

Ms Angela Muldoon, 23, from Paisley said she went with two of her friends to the Park Bar with Mr Brophy, whom she did not know, and his brother.

She said Mr Brophy bought her drinks and tried to kiss her and touch her legs.

She told the court he wanted to go outside to ''winch me''.

Prosecutor Norman Ritchie asked if that meant sex and she said: ''Yes.'' She refused and went home.

Dr Emma Kemp, 26, of Paisley Royal Alexandra Hospital, told the court she heard screams near the spot where the body was found strangled next day.

''It was the most awful screaming I have ever heard in my life. Multiple screams with gasps in between each one. It lasted up to three minutes,'' she said.

Dr Kemp said she dashed back into the hospital and told a policeman.

Ms Angela Johnstone, 24, said she and and her fiance, Fraser McNeil, heard a scream after being dropped off by a bus at Ferguslie Cricket Club in Corsebar Road following a wedding reception.

''We were quite startled by it and Fraser and I decided to go back and have a look, but there was nothing there,'' she said.

Ms Johnstone was shown a video taken by the hospital CCTV security cameras at between 2.19 and 2.20am at the same time as the screams were heard. She and Mr McNeil could be seen walking towards the camera.

In the distance, a figure dressed in light clothing which the Crown maintains is Miss Donnelly was seen walking past the cricket club and then disappearing.

Sergeant Graham Johnston, 37, said after receiving reports of the screaming he walked from the hospital to Corsebar Road but found nothing. He denied a suggestion from Mr Donald Findlay QC defending, that he had not carried out a proper search because there was a stag night involving off-duty policemen and after hours drinking at the cricket club.

Constable Colin Laidlaw, 29, told the court he might have seen Miss Donnelly being stalked.

Mr Laidlaw said he was driving his wife and family to Glasgow Airport to catch a holiday flight to Spain.

About 2.20am he saw a woman in a light coloured jacket and dark skirt with a bag over her shoulder, walking towards his car on Corsebar Road at the cricket club. On the other side of the road also walking in the same direction, but behind the woman, was a man who seemed to momentarily trip and stumble.

He said he thought perhaps they were a couple who had fallen out and made the comment that it could have been a lovers' tiff.

The trial continues.