Screams echoed around an open jail at about the time a teacher there was brutally murdered in the car park, a court heard.

One inmate told of hearing a piercing scream as she watched Midsomer Murders on television at East Sutton Park women’s prison in Maidstone.

But there were no witnesses to the killing of Louise Evans, who lived in Hothfield, who was stabbed 43 times as she left work to go to her car, the jury has been told.

The victim’s ex-lover Keith Prest, 49, denies murdering her in a frenzied knife attack on September 12 last year.

Maidstone Crown Court has heard that Prest, of no fixed address, was “controlling and obsessive” and had refused to accept that the relationship was over.

He was at the time on bail, accused of assaulting Miss Evans, 48.

One inmate at the prison, Sita Rossi, said Miss Evans was “a really nice lady”, who had looked distracted and sad in the two weeks before she was killed.

“She was not her usually smiley self,” she said.

Miss Rossi said on the day of the attack she had returned to her room shortly after 4pm.

“The television was switched on,” she said. “Midsomer Murders was on. I heard two screams, then I heard: 'Get off me, get off me.’ Then I heard a really piercing scream.”

Miss Rossi said she commented to her room mate that it was probably somebody messing about.

“I couldn’t see anybody, either close to the building or further away towards the car park. I looked in the car park direction.”

Another inmate, Maxine Miller, said she was in her room suffering from a migraine at around 3.45pm when she heard a conversation between a man and woman outside.

The woman said: “You can’t go in there.” The man replied: “I want to go to the toilet.”

“The female’s voice sounded familiar but I didn’t know who it was,” said Miss Miller. “I heard heels walking off. I was lying there watching TV.

“I heard two screams, one after the other. It was about 4pm. There was a pause and then a longer scream.

“I was thinking 'I wish those girls would shut up’, because I was ill.”

The trial continues.