Angelika Kluk might still have been alive when she was entombed under the floor of a church, the murder trial heard yesterday.

A pathologist told the High Court in Edinburgh she could not rule out the possibility, after detailing the horrific wounds the Polish student had suffered.

Ms Kluk had been staying at the chapel house attached to the church and working as a cleaner to help finance her language studies in Gdansk.

On trial is church handyman Peter Tobin, 60, who denies raping and murdering the 23-year-old student and hiding her body in St Patrick's Church, Anderston, Glasgow.

The trial has heard how police were called to the church on September 25 last year because Ms Kluk had gone missing and how her body was discovered four days later, under a hatch.

Dr Julie McAdam, the pathologist, said Ms Kluk had been hit over the head six times with something heavy, fracturing her skull. Jurors were told some of those injuries penetrated the full thickness of the scalp, exposing the skull underneath.

Pictures of the head wounds and stab wounds on the torso were shown to the courtroom, which was closed to members of the public.

Her hands and wrists had been battered and cut as the girl, 5ft 4in tall and weighing eight stone, tried to defend herself.

Dr McAdam also told the trial she thought it was a sexually motivated attack because of the pattern of stab wounds.

Despite a broken skull and bound wrists Ms Kluk tried to fight back as her assailant plunged a knife repeatedly into her chest.

The court heard that her attempt to shield her body led to the blade piercing through her left wrist.

Dr McAdam said she could not tell how long the girl's ordeal might have lasted or when it happened, but said she did not die instantly. "I would say that she may well not have died quickly," Dr McAdam said.

She could have been dead by the evening of Sunday, September 24, last year - the day before she was reported missing.

The court heard that Dr McAdam, who is based at Glasgow University, noted in her report the cause of Miss Kluk's death was blood loss from scalp and chest injuries. Gagging may have contributed to her death, the court heard.

Angelika Kluk was stabbed 16 times in the chest and had been hit over the head six times with something heavy, fracturing her skull, the murder trial heard yesterday.

The details of the attack on the 23-year-old Polish student were revealed for the first time by the pathologist in the case.

Giving evidence at the trial of Peter Tobin, who denies raping and murdering Angelika, Dr Julie McAdam said she thought it was a sexually motivated attack because of the pattern of stab wounds.

Dr McAdam said she could not rule out the possibility that Angelika was still alive when she was hidden beneath the floor boards. She also revealed Angelika's hands and wrists had been battered and cut as she tried to defend herself.

The trial has seen photos of the bound, gagged and blood-stained body lying under the floor of St Patrick's church in Anderston, Glasgow.

Advocate-depute Dorothy Bain, prosecuting, asked Dr McAdam if she thought Angelika was alive beneath the floor boards. Dr McAdam replied: "If deposition followed immediately after the attack, I couldn't rule that out as a possibility.

"As she lost blood she would have lost consciousness."

However, when pressed by defence QC Donald Findlay, Dr McAdam admitted: "From a pathologist's point of view, I wouldn't be able to say. But I would say she was probably dead - if not, dying."

She said her opinion was based on signs that, once down the hole, Angelika had not been able to move.

The twelfth day of the trial saw how 10 of the stab wounds were close together in the middle of Angelika's chest. Dr McAdam said they were probably inflicted in quick succession when the girl might not be in a position to move.

"The area where the injuries were found would tend to suggest to a pathologist that there had been some sexual motive to this," she added.

The trial heard that the force used had cut through rib cartilage, damaged the breast bone and caused both lungs to collapse. The lining round her heart had been nicked but the heart was undamaged. Blows to the head had split the scalp, leaving bone exposed. Dr McAdam said she had tried to work out from the injuries what had happened - beginning with blows to the back and side of Angelika's head. A finger was broken and hands bruised as she instinctively put them up to her head.

"If she were not unconscious she would have been stunned. Possibly this would have given her assailant time to bind her and gag her without too much of a struggle."

Angelika was then attacked with a knife, the pathologist thought. "If unconscious she has been able to regain consciousness, or been conscious enough to try to ward off the blows with the knife and that has resulted in the defence injuries."

She said the cause of death was "stab wounds to the chest and head injuries and occlusion of the mouth by gagging".

The pathologist told Ms Bain her findings were in keeping with her being dead six days earlier - on Sunday September 24 at about 6pm.

The trial has heard from witnesses who last saw Angelika that day, painting a shed with odd-job-man Peter Tobin, 60.

The murder charge alleges that Mr Tobin attacked Angelika between September 24 and September 29 in St Patrick's Church, or elsewhere, gagging her with cloth and tape, tying her hands, raping her, battering her with a piece of wood or something similar, and repeatedly striking her with a knife.

It is alleged that he then hid the body under the floor of the church in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.