A 17-year-old has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice following the death of Jayden Parkinson just as the trial was about to get under way this morning.

He is on trial at Oxford Crown court alongside Ben Blakeley of Christchurch Road, Reading, who denies murdering the teenager last December.

Blakeley has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, still denies preventing a lawful burial and the trial of the two defendants is expected to last between two and three weeks.

That trial is expected to start this morning.

Jayden’s body was found in a disturbed grave in the cemetery next to All Saints Church in Didcot on December 18.