Former President Ugo Mifsud Bonnici described this morning how worried neighbours told him they had heard the cries of a woman was succumbed to stabbing in her home in Cospicua.

He was giving evidence in the trial of Saviour Mangion, 47 of Zejtun, who stands charged with fatally stabbing Maria Stella Magrin after gaining access to her home to rob her.

Mangion, once described as a serial killer by a judge, is already serving a life sentence  having been convicted of two other murders.

In his evidence, Dr Mifsud Bonnici testified that on the day of the incident he had arrived home from a political activity when neighbours told him that they had heard the victim crying out . They had knocked on the door but she did not answer.

They asked him what to do. He knocked on the door and no one answered and then they decided to call the police.

He described Ms Magrin as a religious woman who lived alone, having become introverted when her relatives died.

The jurors this morning were also shown pictures of the macabre scene were the victim was found dead, at the foot of an altar she had at her home. Blood could also be seen spluttered on some of the walls. A former policeman, Charles Marsh, said some rooms were so full of junk, it was difficult to put a foot in.

Earlier in the trial today, the court heard evidence by former police assistant commissioner Manuel Cassar who said that the accused never showed remorse during the investigations. He was always cool, calm and collected when they spoke to him.

The court heard yesterday how Mangion was apprehended after he boasted he had committed the crime but had never been caught.

Saviour Mangion, 47, from Żejtun, managed to escape justice for 20 years until he was arrested in 2005.

He is also charged with illegal possession of a knife, stealing around €14,000 in cash and holding her against her will.

Prosecuting officer Nadine Sant told a panel of jurors that Mr Mangion was caught because someone had reported him to the police after hearing his boastful claim.

The case was “a very simple one”, she said. The crime was “of the worst sort” because it involved someone being killed “capriciously”.

He is already in prison serving a life sentence for the murder of Rosina Zammit, 54, in Safi in 1984. He was also jailed for 21 years for the murder of Francis Caruana in 1998. He stabbed both repeatedly.

Mr Mangion had been described as “Malta’s serial killer” by Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono after his second conviction.

When yesterday’s trial began before Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano, Dr Sant explained how Mr Mangion, who was 21 at the time, used to associate with Leli Spiteri and his nephew Oswald Spiteri.

They knew Ms Magrin, who used to live in a house with no electricity. They decided to rob her and kill her so that she could never identify them.

Oswald Spiteri and Mr Mangion both admitted their involvement when they were apprehended 20 years after the crime.

Police Inspector Chris Pullicino said he received new information about the case in 2005 and arrested Mr Mangion, who at first denied his involvement but then gave a blow-by-blow account of how it happened.

The detailed account was precisely in line with what the inspector had seen in the photos taken by forensic experts in 1986. Mr Mangion had taken the police on site and even showed them the street they had passed through. The three split the Lm6,000 they had stolen.

According to the bill of indictment, Mr Mangion stabbed Ms Magrin 13 times, with Dr Sant saying that the impact was so forceful that the knife’s handle actually marked the woman’s body.

Leli Spiteri died in 2004 while Oswald Spiteri committed suicide in the police lock-up. The trial continues today.

Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace is appearing for Mr Mangion.