Hairdresser murder case 'flawed'

Kelly Hyde went missing as she walked her dog

The case against a 17-year-old youth accused of murdering a hairdresser has been described as "deeply flawed" at a trial at Swansea Crown Court.

Kelly Hyde, 24, from Ammanford, Carmarthenshire was battered to death with a barbell weight as she walked her dog.

Barrister Huw Davies QC representing the youth, who denies murder, said he had answered all the police questions.

The jury has been hearing closing speeches in the case.

Mr Davies, in his closing address, said the youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had co-operated with police as best he could.

The body of Ms Hyde was found in a stream near Ammanford last September, a few days after she was reported missing by her family.

'Just not sensible'

Mr Davies said the youth's explanation for how he came to have her blood on his shoes was more plausible than the prosecution's version of events.

He said the accused had told him how he must have walked in Ms Hyde's blood as he took his dog along a bridle path leading from Mill Terrace in Ammanford.

The prosecution's case that there has never been any blood on the path was "just not sensible", he said.

"To say the police did not find any is one thing. To say there never was any is not the same."

Mr Davies also described the police questioning of his client as "ill considered".

The nature and style, he argued, were likely to "cower" someone into silence rather than to encourage them to be open.

The youth has told the jury he came across a dog lead used by Ms Hyde as he walked along the bridle path on 27 September last year.

He said he took the lead home without realising it was blood soaked.

At the point where he found the lead he noticed "about a cupful" of blood on the ground and thought a fox may have attacked another animal.

The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict on Tuesday.