THE alleged killer of mother-to-be Nikitta Grender appeared before a High Court judge today in a preliminary hearing.

Carl Whant, 26, of Bettws was brought before Mr justice Griffith Williams at Cardiff Crown Court to shouts of "murderer" from friends of the murdered teenager.

The former soldier, who worked as a nightclub bouncer, was charged with the murder of the heavily pregnant 19-year-old on Saturday.

He is also charged with a separate offence of child destruction.

Prosecutor David Wooler said: "He was charged on Saturday 12th February with the murder of Nikitta Grender on February 5th, and an offence of child destruction in relation to a child she was carrying on the occasion."

Whant, who appeared at Caerphilly Magistrates' Court yesterday, looked clean-shaven and relaxed today.

He is the second cousin of the victim's boyfriend, Ryan Mayes, 18, the father of the unborn baby girl, who had already been named Kelsey-May.

Miss Grender was found stabbed to death in the bedroom of her burnt-out flat in Broadmead Park, Liswerry, Newport.

Yesterday, angry family and friends of Miss Grender shouted and swore at him as he was sped away from court in a prison van.

Mr Mayes and other family members looked on from the court's public gallery today in a more subdued atmosphere.

The judge remanded Whant in custody until a plea and case management hearing on Friday May 13.

Before adjourning proceedings, he told the court that a "very provisional’’ date for trial would be the start of the Michaelmas term.

That was interpreted by barristers to mean the beginning of October.