Jury deliberating Collins verdict

A jury had its second day of deliberations in the trial of television presenter Justin Lee Collins, who is accused of harassing his ex-girlfriend.

During the 10-day trial at St Albans Crown Court, jurors heard details of his tempestuous relationship with Anna Larke, in which they frequently fell out and argued.

Video games public relations worker Ms Larke, 38, claims Collins subjected her to various levels of emotional and domestic abuse.

She alleged the ex-comic, also 38, made her write down in a Pukka pad all her previous sexual encounters regardless of how graphic. The court heard he did not want to write the details down but Ms Larke dictated them to him and he believed it may have been a form of catharsis for her.

Collins, of Kew, south west London, denies the charge of harassment and said recovering alcoholic Ms Larke, who moved in with him in January last year, was obsessive, jealous and possessive and would send him a "barrage" of text messages wanting to know where he was and who he was with.

Collins and Ms Larke lived together from January to July last year in a deeply troubled relationship as she tried to overcome alcoholism, the court has heard.

Collins is accused of making her come off social networking websites, sleep facing him and throw away DVDs because they featured actors she found attractive. He denied all those claims and also denied making death threats against her.

Collins said the seven-month relationship with Ms Larke was "absolute hell".

He denied attacking her in any way, saying he had never hit anyone in his life.

The jury was sent home for the day and one of them was discharged. The 11 remaining jurors will resume their deliberations from 10am tomorrow, Tuesday October 9.