Mary-Ann was allegedly raped and tortured

The discovery came after a friend of the schoolgirl staggered from the scene of the murder in Prospect Park, Reading, Berkshire, to raise the alarm.

The girl survived being shot in the head but was left with 20 to 30 shrapnel fragments in her forehead.

Five defendants deny charges of rape, kidnap and murder but one man has pleaded guilty to kidnapping the pair.

The trial has been told that the two girls were abducted from a car park, driven in the boot of a car to a tiny hotel room and raped and tortured before being driven out to die.

As I got closer to the bundle I could see it was actually a body and then I could see that it was a female Pc Steve Purser

Mary-Ann, 16, was stabbed to death but her friend, then aged 18, survived being shot in the head.

The jury heard medical evidence on Monday that the bullet did not penetrate her skull but left the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - with shrapnel fragments in her forehead, a handful of which are still there now.

Early on the morning of 7 May last year, Pc Steve Purser, of Thames Valley Police's tactical firearms unit, was sent to the Tilehurst Road beside Prospect Park, the court was told.

In a written statement, parts of which were read to the jury, the policeman told how he had first seen Mary-Ann's friend sitting by the roadside and learnt that there was another teenager still in the park.

He said as he approached the scene of the murder he saw "what looked like a bundle of clothing on the floor".

"As I got closer to the bundle I could see it was actually a body and then I could see that it was a female.

Trial adjourned

"The female was laid flat on her back with her arms by her side and her legs straight out pointing downwards.

"There was a lot of dark red blood around her throat area and on her chest, she was very pale and her eyes were half open, she did not look like she was breathing," he added.

Adrian Thomas, 20, of Battersea, south London; 23-year-old Joshua Morally, of Balham, south London; Jamaile Morally, 22, of Balham; Llewellyn Adams, 24, of Balham; Indrit Krasniqi, 18, of Chiswick, west London, and Michael Johnson, 19, of Southfields, south-west London, are all on trial.

Joshua Morally has admitted two counts of kidnap but denies murder, attempted murder, rape and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

The others deny all the charges.