Jane Longhurst's body was found five weeks after she went missing

Graham Coutts, from Hove, is accused of having murdered Jane Longhurst by strangling her, in March of last year.

But he claims the Brighton teacher died of asphyxiation during consensual sex and denies murder.

He admitted in court hiding the body had been irrational, but said he was worried his girlfriend would lose their unborn twins if she knew what had happened.

With the benefit of hindsight, I think I was in denial about the whole situation Graham Coutts

Mr Coutts, of Waterloo Street in Hove, has admitted keeping Miss Longhurst's body in his shed and then in a storage unit in Brighton, before finally taking it to woodland and setting it alight.

He told Lewes Crown Court on Monday he intended only to delay his inevitable capture and arrest to protect his pregnant girlfriend Lisa Stephens.

He said he was not trying to cover up 31-year-old Miss Longhurst's death.

'It sounds irrational'

Mr Coutts told the court: "It was still only 12 weeks into the pregnancy and every day of development was vital.

"It sounds irrational now but that was the thing that was overriding every rational thought I had."

Graham Coutts denies murdering the special needs teacher

The twins were born on 11 October.

The court heard 35-year-old Mr Coutts had visited the Big Yellow Storage Company site 10 times while he had stored the body there.

Asked why he had visited the storage unit so many times he said: "It was for a number of reasons.

"With the benefit of hindsight, I think I was in denial about the whole situation.

"I wanted to see there was nothing in there, but of course that never happened.

"Part of the reason was to check on the smell and, as time went on, I think half of me wanted the police to be there so I would not have to move the body and take it out in the car."

Tied her up

Mr Coutts had earlier told the court there was no "bizarre sexual fantasy" behind his repeated visits to the unit.

He said he knew he was going to get caught and the court heard he had stored the body in a box bearing the name of the firm he worked for with a traceable number.

The prosecution alleges Mr Coutts murdered Miss Longhurst, of Shaftesbury Road in Brighton, at his flat to fulfil a sexual obsession with dead women.

Mr Coutts claims the teacher consented to have sex with him on 14 March but died as a result of a tragic accident after he had tied her up and knotted a pair of tights around her neck, with her consent.

The body of Miss Longhurst, who taught at Uplands special needs school in Brighton, was found set alight on 19 April on Wiggonholt Common, near Pulborough in West Sussex.

The trial continues.