Becky Watts trial: Accused 'closed eyes while he cut up body'

Nathan Matthews told the court he closed his eyes as he cut up Becky Watts' body with a power saw

The man accused of murdering Becky Watts said he closed his eyes when he used a circular saw to cut up her body.

Nathan Matthews said he held the power tool using one hand and had acted alone when he dismembered his stepsister after accidentally killing her.

But the prosecution say his account of Miss Watts' death is a "complete nonsense" and he and his girlfriend were "in it together" from the start.

Mr Matthews and Shauna Hoare deny murder and conspiring to kidnap Becky.

Under examination about how he cut up the body at 14 Cotton Mill Lane, Mr Matthews said it "took a while" to dismember Becky's body, but said it was "stupid" to suggest it might have been six hours.

Becky Watts' dismembered body was found in a shed several days after she vanished from her family home in Bristol in February

Mr Matthews said he believed Miss Watts could be subdued and kidnapped in "five minutes", while his girlfriend was in the garden at 18 Crown Hill, smoking a cigarette.

But things had gone "horribly wrong" and he could not tell anyone about it.

"The truth is, I didn't plan for this, for what happened," Mr Matthews said.

Nathan Matthews, 28, admits killing his 16-year-old stepsister but denies her murder

Mr Matthews claimed Becky had not put up a violent struggle for her life and had not screamed or called out when he attacked her, wearing a mask and covering her mouth with tape before trying to get her into a suitcase.

Prosecutor William Mousley said his account of events on the morning of 19 February were exposed as a "complete nonsense" when examined in any detail.

He suggested that Mr Matthews had never worn a mask - and that Miss Watts had laughed at him thinking it "all rather pathetic" - and Mr Matthews "lost it and killed her".

But it would also have been an "awful lot easier" to kidnap Becky, if he had help, Mr Mousley suggested.

Mr Matthews, of Hazelbury Drive in Warmley, South Gloucestershire, admits perverting the course of justice, preventing lawful burial and possessing a prohibited weapon.

Ms Hoare, 21, of Cotton Mill Lane, Bristol, denies murder and conspiracy to kidnap, a weapons charge, perverting the course of justice and preventing a burial.

Two other men, Donovan Demetrius, 29, and James Ireland, 23, deny assisting an offender.

The trial continues.