A police family liaison officer told how he realised Sion Jenkins had changed his story about the day his foster daughter was murdered.

Sergeant Steve Hutt told the Old Bailey yesterday he did not realise the significance of the discrepancies in the accounts as he helped to prepare a witness statement.

Jenkins, 47, then a deputy headteacher, at first denied he entered his home at the time the prosecution allege he battered 13-year-old Billie-Jo Jenkins to death.

But later he told Sgt Hutt he had remembered more details about the day of the attack, February 15, 1997.

He claimed he had been at home with his two eldest daughters and then left to buy some white spirit after they said goodbye to Billie-Jo.

The officer said he could not remember raising the change with any senior detectives.

He said: "I felt it was significantly of note to record in my notebook. The significance of it I obviously didn't pick up on unless I mentioned it in conversation."

Defence barrister Christopher Sallon, QC, suggested investigators were aware of discrepancies between the accounts of Jenkins' daughters Lottie and Annie and Jenkins himself.

Sgt Hutt said: "I don't know. I was aware there were incremental changes to what Sion Jenkins told me on the Saturday.

"I knew that was going to be reflected in the statement he was preparing."

Jenkins had made his own notes of the day's events to help him make the witness statement, the court heard.

Jenkins is accused of battering his foster daughter, Billie-Jo, to death with an iron tent peg as she painted the patio doors at their home in Lower Park Road, Hastings.

Jurors have heard Jenkins then took Annie, 12, and Lottie, ten, to a DIY shop to buy white spirit, which the prosecution alleges was to cover his tracks.

Neither of the girls are giving evidence at the retrial.

Jenkins, whose parents live near Aberystwyth, south Wales, has since married Christina Ferneyhough, 55, a divorcee and former school deputy headteacher.

Jenkins denies murder on February 15, 1997.

Today jury members were expected to visit the family home in Hastings to see the scene of the alleged murder.

The trial continues.