Teenager Marsha McDonnell clawed at the ground as she lay dying in a pool of blood just metres from her home, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

David and Bernadette Fuller, who live in Priory Road, Hampton, were woken by a noise just after midnight on February 4, 2003, and found the gap year student lying face down on the pavement with her arms underneath her.

Mrs Fuller told the court: "She stretched out her arm in front of her and then she clawed her arm backwards.

"I pulled the hood back to try and see what was happening. It was quite difficult to see. She was obviously bleeding a lot. It was difficult to see where it was coming from. Her hair was quite matted."

She continued: "Initally she made a low moaning sound but that stopped quite soon. I talked to her the whole time."

Levi Bellfield, 39, of West Drayton, denies murdering Marsha, 19, and French student Amelie Delagrange on Twickenham Green in August 2004.

He also denies two attempted murders and charges of false imprisionment and kidnap.

The court heard how Mr Fuller had been woken around 20 minutes earlier by what sounded like a car door closing'.

He said: "I pulled the curtain to the side but saw nothing. There was absolutely nothing outside. It was really quiet. I looked for a couple of moments and then went back to bed. I sort of drifted off but I could hear a moaning noise."

However, another noise caused him to wake again so he looked out the window and said he saw what he thought looked like blood so called the emergency services and stayed on the phone to them as he and his wife went to investigate.

Mrs Fuller said: "I got out of bed and looked out of the window. Initally I could not see anything. David was pointing to a pool of blood by the left hand pillar of the garden wall.

"I could see a pool of liquid running down the pavement. When I looked again a hand stretched out from the pool so we thought then there was someone not just the blood."

The trial continues.