Jury out again in mother trial

Jurors have retired for a second day in the trial of a woman from Sussex accused of smothering her three-year-old daughter to death - six months after her baby son also died.

Prosecutors allege that Lesley Dunford, 33, inflicted fatal injuries on Lucy Dunford, who was found with bruising under her skin around her shoulders and neck.

The child also suffered a cut above her left eyebrow which could have been caused by hitting a hard surface such as the headboard of a bed, jurors have heard.

Dunford, of Rydal Mews, Windermere Close, Exeter, Devon, denies murdering Lucy at the former family home in Pelwood Road, Camber, near Rye, East Sussex on February 2 2004.

She told Lewes Crown Court of her "complete and utter shock" at discovering Lucy's body, six months after her son Harley died aged seven months in his cot on August 3 2003.

The jury heard that Dunford did not try to resuscitate her daughter when she found her because she was too frightened to touch her, and instead phoned a friend who came round.

Dunford said she put Lucy to bed at around 2pm after noticing she had a temperature and went downstairs to watch television before going back upstairs later on.

At this point she noticed Lucy face down in her pillow, motionless and rigid. The death happened on the same day that Dunford's husband, Wayne, 54, returned to work following a 19-month spell of unemployment.

Dunford conceded that she was a "bit nervous" about him going back to work, leaving her at home alone looking after Lucy, but she denied being depressed about it.

Although she has suffered from epilepsy for the past 14 years, Dunford said she had not been diagnosed with any psychiatric or autistic problems.