LEEDS Crown Court heard that even before Hobson murdered twins Claire and Diane Sanderson, he was harbouring a secret.

In June and July last year, Hobson called both straight sex and gay sex telephone chatlines a total of 68 times.

The calls included a ten-minute call to a gay chatline on June 1 and many calls to others between July 3 and 13.

Hours before killing Claire, prosecutor Paul Worsley QC told Leeds Crown Court that Hobson rang a straight sex line at 12.28am and left a message advertising himself.

The message said: "Hi, I'm Mark. I'm 34 years old and I'm solar powered. Other people say I'm bald.

"I like a laugh in life. I'm living on my own at the moment. I'm contracting for six months and I've got a two-bedroom house.

"I'm single in life, but know I just want to meet somebody to have a laugh and a giggle with.

"Let's see what happens. I'm earning some decent money at the moment so could look after you too.

"I could visit you or you could come over here.

"It doesn't matter. It would be nice if you felt the same."

Mr Worsley told the court that five women had replied to the message.

He said the message showed Hobson had planned Claire's murder several hours before killing her.

Updated: 13:53 Tuesday, April 19, 2005