Summing up begins in Murgatroyd trial

Janet Murgatroyd died after a night out in Preston

The judge in the trial of a man accused of murdering a Lancashire law student has begun his summing up.

Mr Justice Holland urged the jury at Liverpool Crown Court to consider the difficulties posed by the length of time since Janet Murgatroyd's death in 1996.

Mr Greenwood, 29, of Sephton Street, Lostock Hall, was arrested three years after the law student's death on 16 June 1996 when he approached police and confessed to killing her.

But he has since retracted his confession and claims he had wrongly convinced himself he was guilty. He denies murder.

The body of Ms Murgatroyd was found floating in the River Ribble at Preston about 12 hours after Mr Greenwood allegedly attacked her.

Summing up the case, Mr Justice Holland identified four factors which he said affect both sides of the case.

'Unbearable guilt'

He said the fact Andrew Greenwood's confession to killing Ms Murgatroyd came three years after her death, and that it is now seven years since her body was found in the River Ribble, caused difficulties for both witnesses and the jury.

Other factors the judge said should be considered were alcohol - as Andrew Greenwood had been drunk on the night of Ms Murgatroyd's death and at the time of his first confession, the role of the media - from which Mr Greenwood claims to have gained information for his confession, and the fact she was killed in relative darkness.

In August 1999 Mr Greenwood confessed that he punched and kicked her unconscious after she spurned his advances following a chance meeting as he was walking home.

During the three week trial Paul Reid, QC, prosecuting, has alleged Mr Greenwood murdered Ms Murgatroyd, a first year law student at the Central Lancashire University and a part time police clerk, in the early hours of the morning as she walked towards her home in Broad Oak Green, Penwortham, after an evening out.

Mr Reid alleges Mr Greenwood, who lived at The Maltings, Penwortham at the time of her death, had found it unbearable to live with the guilt of having been responsible for Janet Murgatroyd's death and eventually had to confess.

Blackout claim

His defence claim Mr Greenwood had been suffering from depression since the age of 18 and his confession , a "confabulation" was a product of depression.

Mr Greenwood claims he had had a blackout on the night of the killing and convinced himself he was the killer after developing a fascination about the murder from media reports.

He had "images" in his mind which he used to fill in gaps in the reports and wrongly believed he was to blame and deserved punishment when he confessed.

The jury is expected to retire on Wednesday when the judge concludes his summing up of the evidence.

The case continues.