THE brother of a teenager jointly accused with his girlfriend of murdering their new born baby has described finding the infant's body in an alleyway.

Jane Hunt

THE brother of a teenager jointly accused with his girlfriend of murdering their new born baby has described finding the infant's body in an alleyway.

The 20-year-old told a jury at Ipswich Crown Court that he was taken to an area near a hedge by his brother and his brother's 15-year-old girlfriend and at first could see nothing but grass.

“I put my hand down to move the grass and saw the body,” he said.

He said the baby was wrapped in a tea towel and was laying face down.

He told the court he had picked up the lifeless body and put it in a Nike sports bag that was handed to him by his brother.

He said the baby felt “flimsy” and said he noticed there was some damage to one of the little boy's arms.

He also saw scratches on the child's leg, arm and hand.

Asked by prosecuting counsel Karim Khalil if it was obvious that the baby was dead he replied “yes”.

Before the court are a 17-year-old youth and a 16-year-old girl, from the Eye area, who have denied murdering their new born baby in October last year.

The court has heard that the couple - who cannot be named for legal reasons - met on the internet in 2006 and when the girl was 14 her boyfriend had moved in with her family.

Late on October 6 last year the girl, who was then only 15, had complained to her parents of having stomach ache.

They had been unaware that she was pregnant and had gone to bed after advising her to take pain killers.

During the night the girl had given birth and the baby had died shortly afterwards.

A post mortem examination showed the baby had suffered a fractured skull and a broken arm, neither of which the prosecution say could have been caused accidentally.

Cross examined by his brother's barrister, Patricia Lynch QC, the witness agreed that the young couple were “two scared teenagers” who were both distressed and crying.

The trail continues today