New Billie-Jo blood spots claim

Sion Jenkins has always denied murdering his foster daughter

The Sion Jenkins murder trial has heard how drops of blood could have been breathed onto him by his dying foster daughter Billie-Jo.

An American pathologist giving evidence via video link at the Old Bailey on Monday, said he found evidence that air had been trapped in Billie-Jo's lungs.

The defence says the air could have come out through her blood-filled nose or mouth as Mr Jenkins tended to her.

He denies murdering the 13-year-old in Hastings, East Sussex, in 1997.

Billie-Jo was battered to death with a metal tent peg in the back garden of the family home on Lower Park Road.

The prosecution says 158 tiny spots of blood ended up on Mr Jenkins' clothes and shoes when he attacked her.

Billie-Jo was killed while she was painting patio doors

Defence witness Dr William Travis, a pathology expert based in New York, told the court he examined samples and slides of Billie-Jo's lung tissue.

He said he found evidence of bubble-like spaces, tearing and holes and that this could have been caused by air being blocked in by an obstruction in Billie-Jo's upper airways.

The defence claims this could have become dislodged when Mr Jenkins moved her body, causing the air to be released and blood droplets breathed out.

The prosecution says the lung tissue was damaged during the process to preserve them after a post-mortem examination.

Mr Jenkins, 47, now lives in Aberystwyth, Wales.

The trial continues.