A teenage boy accused of killing six-year-old Alesha MacPhail on the Isle of Bute in Scotland has blamed a woman for the murder.
The 16-year-old denies taking the schoolgirl from her bed on July 2 before raping and murdering her.
The schoolgirl’s body was discovered in woodland on the island in the Firth of Clyde last year.
But her alleged killer, who cannot be named because of his age, has lodged a special defence of incrimination, claiming a named woman committed the crime.
A jury at the High Court in Glasgow heard the child's naked body was found in the grounds of the former Kyles Hydropathic Hotel at Port Bannatyne.
A post-mortem examination determined the cause of death as "pressure to neck and face".
The teenager, who wore a grey suit in court, denies entering the house where Alesha was in bed with a knife and abducting her.
He has also pleaded not guilty to a second charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of clothing and a knife on the shore at Rothesay and washing blood off his body.
Judge Lord Matthews told the panel the case, expected to last up to two weeks, was likely to cause "strong emotions.”
He said: "You have to approach this case with a great deal of professional detachment."
Agreed statements of fact were read to the jury on Monday before the judge adjourned the case until Tuesday, when evidence will be heard.
