Facebook murder case jury go out

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/south_east/8248774.stm

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A jury is considering its verdict in the case of a mother who was allegedly murdered by her partner after changing her Facebook profile to "single".

Hayley Jones, 26, was found stabbed by her young children just days after altering her Facebook relationship status from "married".

Brian Lewis, from New Tredegar, Caerphilly, told Cardiff Crown Court he did not deliberately plan to stab her.

Mr Lewis, 31, denies murdering the mother of four at their home.

He said he had wanted to touch her sleeping bag with a kitchen knife he had been using but "misjudged it".

He has told the court of "petty" arguments about her computer use, while she became secretive using her laptop.

Mr Lewis fled the scene during the early hours of 12 March, 2007, leaving the couple's four children to find their mother's body in the living room.

He said he intended to kill himself by crashing his car but "chickened out" and rang the police to ask them to check on their children, the trial heard.

Mr Lewis told defending barrister Peter Murphy QC the time Ms Jones spent on Facebook had been the cause of "bickering" within their home.

The court heard that he did have an issue with the amount of time she was spending on a laptop computer he bought for her.

He said Ms Jones was quite open about her activity on the computer at first but gradually became more secretive and would close the lid on the laptop whenever he came near.

He said a friend had told him that Ms Jones had changed her status on Facebook to "single" at the beginning of March.