Jane Longhurst taught music at a Brighton special needs school

Graham Coutts, 35, of Waterloo Street, Hove, denies murdering Jane Longhurst, 31, in March last year.

He says the Brighton teacher died during consensual asphyxial sex.

Jurors retired on Monday to consider their verdict after Judge Richard Brown told them to take a "cold, hard, calculated look" at the case.

Fetish for necks

The jurors at Lewes Crown Court spent 90 minutes deliberating on the case before Judge Brown sent them home on Monday night.

They continued to discuss their verdict throughout Tuesday.

The prosecution alleges Mr Coutts strangled the special needs teacher to satisfy a "macabre fantasy".

The defendant has admitted a fetish for women's necks and said Miss Longhurst consented to asphyxial sex at his flat on 14 March 2003.

He admitted that she died during sex with him, but has claimed her death was an accident during a game, in which he had intended to temporarily cut off her breath.

He has admitted storing her body in a box for 35 days before setting it alight in woodland in West Sussex on 19 April.

Mr Coutts denies murdering Miss Longhurst between 13 March and 19 April last year.

The jury will resume its deliberations on Wednesday morning.