A MURDER trial jury has heard how the boyfriend of a missing student was "quite insistent" about being kept informed about the police inquiry into her disappearance.

Naveed Naeem reported 20-year-old Sabira Alam missing when he went to Huddersfield police station on the evening of April 4, a court heard yesterday.

But her body was found by a dog walker in a roadside gully the next morning.

Naeem, 30, of New Street, Milnsbridge, denies her murder and is now on trial at Bradford Crown Court.

Although Miss Alam’s family had contacted the police about her disappearance the day before Naeem, he was not told about that when he was spoken to by a police constable.

Naeem, who was described as being "on edge" by a civilian police worker, claimed to have last seen Miss Alam in the early hours of April 2.

The 30-year-old, of New Street, Milnsbridge, told Pc Sebastian Morgan that he had picked up Miss Alam on the night of April 1 because they were planning to go the cinema.

Naeem said they had an argument because he did not have any money to pay for the cinema and they ended up driving around.

He told the officer that Miss Alam’s parents were unaware of their relationship and he had dropped her off near her home in Vernon Avenue, Greenhead Park, at about 1am.

Naeem said he had been trying to contact his girlfriend on her phone for a few days, but had got no response.

Bradford Crown Court heard evidence yesterday that a Samsung phone belonging to Miss Alam was found by a maintenance worker on the hard shoulder of the M1 near Sheffield on the morning of April 2.

In a statement read to the jury, Pc Morgan said Naeem was told that an officer would be assigned to the investigation and Miss Alam would be reported as a missing person.

The officer described Naeem as being slightly agitated in his manner and added: "He did seem quite insistent about being kept informed about the investigation."

Naeem left the police station at about 8.15pm that night and the next day a dog walker spotted what he initially thought was a mannequin in a gully at the side of A640 road at Buckstones.

Miss Alam, a former beauty student, had been strangled.

The trial continues.