-I tied her up - she wanted to be gagged'

Colin Bainbridge, 35, told Newcastle Crown Court he had not intended to hurt Laura, who he said was a "lovely little girl", and described how the nine-year-old died in his house.

He told the jury that he had tied Laura up in a game of cowboys and Indians, which she had asked him to play.

"I didn't agree at first, but I gave in. I tied her up with insulation tape so that she would escape.

"She was wanting to be gagged, I used crepe bandage because it was available. I tied the gag. I was standing in front of her and leaning behind her. It was just over the mouth."

He told the court he had gone to feed his dog, but had returned 15 minutes later to find Laura lying on the floor with her hands free, but her legs still tied.

He thought that she was dead, he said, and tried to resuscitate her, but was unable to. He said he then moved Laura's body to the bathroom of his home. It was found later under the floorboards.

He also told the jury that he had felt responsible for Laura's death because he had been with her. "I tried to take the blame because when I resuscitating her I bent her neck back. I thought I had broken her neck."

Bainbridge denied that he had abducted Laura and said he had not intended to harm her.

Newcastle Crown Court had heard previously that a diary detailing an account of Laura's death had been found under Bainbridge's pillow in his prison cell.

Laura vanished from her home in Front Street in the village of Penshaw, near Sunderland, on August 25 last year.

Her body was discovered ten days later, under the floor boards of a house in Calvert Terrace, Murton, County Durham, eight miles away.

A post mortem examination at Durham's Dryburn Hospital, by pathologist Dr Nigel Cooper, showed that her injuries were consistent with her being suffocated. He also said that because of her injuries it was likely she was raped.

Bachelor Bainbridge, 35, an electrician, denies murdering, raping and indecently assaulting Laura.

The trial continues.