A MURDER trial jury has heard how police installed secret recording equipment at the home of a man accused of helping to dispose of a schoolgirl's body.

Charlene Downes, 14, from Blackpool, disappeared in November 2003 and Blackburn man Iyad Albattikhi, 30, the boss of Funny Boyz takeaway, Dickson Road, in the resort at the time, denies murder.

Mohammed Reveshi, 55, is accused of assisting an offender. Preston Crown Court was told that as well as at his home, a Fiat people carrier vehicle owned by Raveshi was also bugged.

The covert recording devices picked up conversations between the defendants and others between late February and late March 2005.

The devices were placed in the Hornby Road flat in Blackpool and vehicle belonging to Reveshi.

Detective Sergeant Jan Beasant told the court how police used a total of 52 digital audio tapes during the covert surveillance.

Twenty-four hour round-the-clock surveillance took place at a room in Blackpool police station.

Det Sgt Beasant had sole responsibility for the recordings and later went through all of the tapes to ascertain the nature of the conversations.

The officer said the conversations were mixed. Some included talk about business premises, but there was quite a lot in relation to the police inquiry.

Passages from the tapes are to be played to the jury, over a system at court.

The court has been told that Albattikh was said to have lived in Blackburn at the time Charlene disappeared and commuted to Blackpool to run the takeaway.

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