THE death of the 11-year-old daughter of a vice girl killer was "extremely unlikely" to have been through natural causes, a murder jury was told.

Phyllis Porter was found in bed, face down on a pillow in November, 1996, and an inquest into her death recorded an open verdict.

But after her father Geoffrey Porter was convicted of the murder of Bolton prostitute Carly Bateman in 2002, Phyllis's body was exhumed and the case reopened.

Porter, aged 43, is now in the dock at Manchester Crown Court charged with her murder.

The court heard that Phyllis's death was likely to have been caused by her head being pushed down on to her pillow.

The prosecution claim Porter's conviction for Carly's murder showed he had the "propensity for killing young girls".

David Steer, QC, prosecuting, said it was the murder of the young prostitute which led the original pathologist to re-examine the cause of death of Phyllis.

The evidence of the case pathologist, was read out to the court by Mr Steer. He said: "Phyllis was found face down on the bed. It would be unusual for an otherwise healthy 11-year-old not to move, even when sick, even with a cold, such as to make sure your airways are clear. This raises the question as to whether her mouth and nose were forcefully pushed into the pillow."

The pathologist said that if the force was spread evenly this would not make any markings on the body.

He said that the fact the body had been found face down added a "sinister element" to the case and added: "suffocation on the pillow is the more likely cause of death".

He said that an unexpected death from natural causes in such a young and otherwise healthy girl was "extremely unlikely".

Phyllis's mother, Anne Marie, aged 37, told the jury that her daughter had been "as fit as a fiddle". She said: "The previous day she had been to school and had been swimming. She was her normal self until later on in the evening."

Mrs Porter told the court that her daughter began to show symptoms of a cold and that she had sat in front of the fire for a long time, before going to bed. She found her daughter in her bedroom the following morning "motionless and cold". She then went to a neighbour's house to raise the alarm.

Mr Steer said that on the night of Phyllis's death, Porter entered her bedroom at their home in Kitt Green Road, Marsh Green, Wigan, and suffocated her by pushing her face into a pillow before going to work.

But Mrs Porter said she would have heard if anything was going on in her daughter's bedroom.

Vice girl Carly Batemans body was found in an alleyway behind Crawford Avenue, Bolton, and although she was 17 looked younger.

Carly's death was caused by strangulation. The post mortem examination suggested that a relatively soft ligature or some kind of choke hold had been used by her killer.

Porter denies murdering his daughter.