Day Ten: John Coates Murder Trial (From The Northern Echo)

4:20pm

The jury in the Robert Baker murder trial have not reached a verdict. The judge has sent them home for the night. Deliberations will resume at 10am tomorrow.

1:29pm

The court has announced that there will not be a verdict in the trial until 2.10pm at the earliest.

12:02pm

The jury has now retired to consider it's verdict.

12:02pm

The Judge reminds the jury that Mr Baker said it was coincidence that he had bought an Xbox and tablet from two separate dealers on different occasions.

11:55am

In his evidence, Mr Baker denied killing Mr Coates. He said he played no part in cleaning up his flat and didn't steal anything from the victim's flat.

11:50am

Judge Bourne-Arton reminds the jury that a next door neighbour told Teesside Crown Court that Mr Baker told her that he believed that the police thought he was responsible for the death of John Coates when they spoke days after the death of the victim.

11:45am

When detectives spoke to the defendant on September 19, the jury heard that Mr Baker was nervous, agitated and couldn't stand still when they met in the foyer of the block of flats. The defendant says he didn't want the officers to come into his flat.

11:40am

The jury hear that one witness, Lizzie McQueen, said that Mr Baker doubled up and looked like he was going to be sick when she told him that Mr Coates had been found dead. The defendant denies that happened, the judge says.

11:38am

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton reminds jurors that Mr Baker's DNA was found on a tablet computer that had belonged to Mr Coates. The defendant's friend, Jamie Freer, told police Mr Baker had asked him how to remove pictures of the victim from the computer.

11:24am

He reminds the jury that Mr Baker's evidence was that he bought an Xbox from North Ormesby market which subsequently turned out to belong to Mr Coates.

11:22am

The judge is continuing to sum up the evidence from the trial of Robert Baker. The 24-year-old is charged with the murder of John Coates in his Middlesbrough flat in September last year.

11:15am

Graeme Hetherington will be reporting live from Teesside Crown Court this morning with the jury in the John Coates murder trial expcted to retire to consider its verdict.