Entwistle trial jury set to retire

Judge Diane Kottmyer told the jurors at the Middlesex County Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts, that the verdicts were "yours, and yours alone, to decide".

Entwistle denies killing his 27-year-old wife Rachel and their nine-month-old baby Lillian Rose on the four-poster bed in their new home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, on January 20, 2006.

Judge Kottmyer told the jury to put aside any emotions and to come to their verdicts, which must be unanimous, based upon reason and judgment.

They will have to decide whether Entwistle is guilty of first degree murder, if he acted with deliberate premeditation and malice; guilty of second degree murder, if he intended to cause death or grievous bodily harm; or not guilty.

Former IT worker Entwistle, 29, from Kilton, Worksop, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the double murder.

"You must spend whatever time is necessary to reach a fair and just verdict," the judge told the jurors.

Entwistle had a secret life in which he trawled the internet for escorts and looked at websites about bankruptcy, killing and suicide before shooting dead his family, US prosecutors said.

But his defence team suggested that Mrs Entwistle killed baby Lillian before committing suicide and that Entwistle was simply a loving husband trying to protect his wife's reputation and claimed he moved the gun in a bid to cover it up.