THE partner of a woman accused of murdering her newborn baby seconds after she gave birth said he was so engrossed in his X-box game he did not question when she asked for a pair of scissors.

Ryan Kelly said he thought his partner of nine years Rachel Tunstill, 26, was having a miscarriage alone in the bathroom of the flat they shared when she was delivering the baby.

Tunstill, of Wellington Court, Burnley, denies murder after the body of her infant daughter Mia Kelly was found in a kitchen bin with more than 15 stab wounds.

Mr Kelly told Preston Crown Court he only learned a baby had been born when he returned home from work on Monday January 16 to find police officers searching the bins.

The jury was told Tunstill, a deputy manager at a care home for adults with learning difficulties, had previously suffered a miscarriage in March 2016.

Mr Kelly, 31, told the court his partner told him she was pregnant again at the end of October but before they had time to decide whether they would continue with the pregnancy she told him she had lost the baby.

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When she went into the bathroom on January 14, suffering severe stomach pains, he believed it was 'part of the process', he told the court.

In a statement to the police, Mr Kelly, said: “I know it’s difficult to believe but Rachel deals with everything herself.

“She takes all control at all times and I’m better just staying out of the way.

“Every 20 minutes or so I did go and check on her and ask her if she was OK and if she needed anything.

“I asked her if she had thought of ringing a doctor and at one point she did say she might have to. That is all that was said about it.

“Obviously with hindsight I should have rung an ambulance.”

Throughout the evening Mr Kelly said he was engrossed in playing The Living Dead game on his X-Box with the surround sound turned up.

He was a regular gamer and often played shoot-em-ups and story based games, he told the court.

Each time he went to check on his partner she was sitting on the toilet with a towel wrapped around her.

When she emerged from the bathroom, she was carrying a bundle of towels and Mr Kelly said he heard the washing machine go on.

He said his partner looked unwell and exhausted and was falling asleep on him, so he switched off the game and suggested they went to bed.

(Proceeding)