Becky Watts trial: There are no 'expected pieces of evidence' against accused

“Expected pieces of evidence” that proves a man charged with assisting an offender is guilty aren’t there, a court has heard.

Dean George, defending Donovan Demetrius, said the truth had been “relentless” and the case against him had “fundamentally changed”.

He told the court there was no evidence against his client, no forensic evidence, no fingerprints and no CCTV footage.

Mr George said Demetrius had been "excluded" from the vital evidence, including group Snap Chat messages, and texts.

He added that evidence from interviews, and from questioning in court of Matthews and Ireland, had not mentioned Demetrius as party to hiding the items, or even being there on the night.

Mr George said there was "no evidence of direct communication" between Matthews and Demetrius and questioned where the evidence was he knew there was anything in the shed.

Mr George said, similar to James Ireland, Donovan Demetrius' case had changed from what it began as.

He said the jury no longer needed to be sure Demetrius knew what was in the shed between February 23 and March 3, and he was no longer accused of "knowing or believing" he was storing the remains of Becky Watts.

A suggestion that he knew Matthews had been involved in murder, or manslaughter, had also been struck out.

Instead the jury must decide if Demetrius knew, or believed, the items to be either drugs, or stolen.

In response to Demetrius's outbursts aimed at his situation, and Matthews, while giving evidence, Mr George told the court, if you say something that's not true about someone, you "create the biggest response".

He added:

He said work colleagues who had spoken of Demetrius acting “dodgy” and suspicious had "retrospectively gone back over events and tried to make sense of them".