Murder trial - 'buried alive' query

Mike Baldwin pretended that his stepdaughter Jenna was still alive

The trial of a man accused of murdering his teenage stepdaughter has heard questions about whether the 15-year-old was still alive when he buried her in a shallow grave.

Mr Baldwin, 36, denies murder - he claims Jenna Baldwin died on the way to hospital after accidentally falling down the stairs during a row.

The security guard from Abersychan near Pontypool says he panicked and buried her body at a local beauty spot.

During cross-examination at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday, Mr Baldwin was asked if he had considered the "dreadful possibility" Jenna was still alive when she was buried.

"I thought she wasn't," he replied.

"Did you check thoroughly to ensure she was dead?," asked David Aubrey, prosecuting.

"Did you check her breathing, her pulse? Did you care enough to check that she really was dead?"

"I should have done a lot of things," said Mr Baldwin.

Mike Baldwin denies murdering his teenage stepdaughter

Jenna disappeared in September 2002 - her body was found at a beauty spot known as Fiddler's Elbow about 12 weeks later.

In the months before she was discovered, Mr Baldwin has admitted pretending to be Jenna in a series of phone calls and text messages to family members to make them think she had run away.

Earlier, the court was told that Mr Baldwin is a trained first aider but that he had not attempted to resuscitate Jenna after she fell down the stairs.

The jury also heard that Mr Baldwin dug the grave using a shovel and his bare hands.

But he denied strangling her or cleaning her body with bleach to try and remove any evidence of what he had allegedly done.

On Tuesday, Mr Baldwin denied having a sexual relationship with Jenna, saying he and the teenager "could not stand each other".

He admits deliberately hitting Jenna on the day she died but that her subsequent fall down the stairs was accidental.

The case continues.