MICHAEL Baldwin, pictured, used "devices and lies" to convince his family and police that stepdaughter Jenna was still alive - but it didn't make him a murderer, his defending barrister said yesterday.

Reminding the jury, "this is a case about murder," Peter Murphy, QC, said that although Baldwin's deception of his family might fill them with revulsion, it should not influence their verdict.

Baldwin, 36, formerly of Limekiln Road, Pontnewynydd, denies murdering Jenna between September 3 and 11 last year.

The options available to the jury are to find him: * Guilty or not guilty of murder. * Not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter on the basis of provocation. * Not guilty of murder but guilty of an unlawful act of manslaughter.

In his summing up, Mr Murphy told Cardiff crown court the case was "highly emotive" - involving the death of a young girl who had been buried in an unmarked grave.

He called on the eight men and four women not to be "swayed by sympathy" and feeling under pressure when reaching their verdict.

He said: "Jenna's death was a tragedy but any such sympathy must be put aside. You are the judges of the facts."

He added the jurors must be "objective and dispassionate".

Proceeding.

* See today's Argus for full story.