A JURY has begun considering whether a Little Lever man and three others are guilty of the churchyard killing of a man and conspiring to rob him of his Rolex watch.

Following a three-week trial Mr Justice Turner summed up the evidence for the jury this morning and they have now retired to begin their deliberations.

It is claimed that 30-year-old Lewis Peake recruited his co-defendants to help him rob Steven McMyler, who he had only met that day, of his £11,000 watch.

Peake, of James Street, Little Lever, is said to have enlisted Michael Wilson and two youths, aged 17 and 14, shortly after they arrived in Wigan by train from the Liverpool area.

Mr McMyler, aged 34, was kicked in the head while in Wigan Parish Church gardens on August 6 last year and died.

But, giving instructions to the jury, the judge warned them that they need to set emotions about the case aside and reach their verdicts on a "calm and measured assessment of the evidence".

"You must put out of your mind any tendency to act out of sympathy, for example, with the relatives of Mr McMyler, or the family of the defendants," he said, adding that they must also not pay regard to stereotypes based on where anyone lives.

Peake, Wilson, aged 20, of Northfield Close, Kirkby, and the two youths all deny manslaughter and conspiracy to rob. Part way through the trial murder charges against the four were dropped.

None of the defendants chose to give evidence and Mr Justice Turner told the jury that they could only hold this against them if they believe the prosecution case is so strong that the defendant believes they would not stand up to questioning.

The trial continues.