Slain gran got threatening calls: court

In the days leading up to her violent death, Liselotte Watson confided in one of her neighbours on Queensland's Macleay Island.

She didn't say much, except that she was getting threatening phone calls and had contacted the police about it more than once.

That neighbour wasn't the only one who knew the 85-year-old kept large amounts of cash stashed inside her immaculate home.

This is what a Supreme Court jury heard on Thursday in the trial of Steven Mark John Fennell, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering the widow in November 2012.

"She just said she was getting threatening calls and she had rung the police several times," former neighbour Loretta McKie said.

Days later, the court has heard, Mrs Watson was found dead on the floor of her bedroom after suffering repeated blows to the base of her skull, so forceful they caused bruising on her brain.

Mrs McKie agreed with defence counsel Adrian Richardson's suggestion it had become common knowledge the grandmother kept cash in her house around the time of her death.

Another residence of the cul-de-sac community, Ulla Doolan, said she tried dissuading her from the practice but didn't get far.

"She was a very trusting lady. (She said) 'I dont believe in banks'," Ms Doolan said.

The jury also heard the remainder of a lengthy police interview recorded without Fennell's knowledge, in which he described feeling ill when he discovered Mrs Watson's body on November 13 alongside a local officer.

"I've been here for friggen seven hours and I'm tired," he also told officers in a moment of irritation.

He was charged after this conversation with Detective Sergeant Graham Kershaw. Listening devices were also later planted at both a Cleveland address and Fennell's home.

The crown alleges the junk mail delivery man murdered Mrs Watson brutally and callously to cover up financial misdeeds.

The trial before Justice Martin Daubney continues.