A Google search on "how do police find DNA" was made from the phone of a boy accused of murdering Alesha MacPhail the day after she was found dead, a trial has heard.

The court heard the search led to a page being accessed shortly after 12.30am on howstuffworks.com under "collecting DNA evidence".

Cyber crime team leader Peter Benson said this would be "something you type in".

The former policeman was also questioned about any communication on Instagram between the accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and the person who the teenager blames for Alesha's death.

The 16-year-old has lodged a special defence of incrimination, blaming Toni McLachlan - the girlfriend of Alesha's father Robert MacPhail - for the killing.

Advocate Depute Iain McSporran QC asked Mr Benson if there was Instagram communication between the accused and Ms McLachlan.

He replied: "I can say there was no indication of that at all."

Giving evidence earlier in the trial, Ms McLachlan refuted suggestions from the accused's defence lawyer, Brian McConnachie QC, that she and the teenager had been in contact on Instagram in the early hours of July 2.

Mr McConnachie suggested they had messaged on Instagram, then met and had sex in a shed, before Ms McLachlan took Alesha from her room, "attacked and brutalised her" and "planted" the accused's semen from the condom used earlier, then murdered her, all of which Ms McLachlan denied.

A knife which was discovered on the beach opposite where Alesha MacPhail was last seen had the same design as those found in the accused's house, the trial heard.

Four knives from a block of five were found at the home of the 16-year-old boy who allegedly raped and murdered the six-year-old on the Isle of Bute in July.

The jury also heard a right palm print belonging to the teen was found on a chair rail at steps leading to the flat where Alesha was staying when she disappeared.

The accused was asked a number of questions and had assertions put to him, replying no comment each time.

He was then charged with the murder of the child where he again relied no comment.

Alesha was reported missing from her grandparents' home on the Isle of Bute at 6am on July 2 last year.

Her body was found in a wooded area of the island a few hours later.

The teenage murder accused has pleaded not guilty at the High Court in Glasgow.

His legal team, led by QC Brian McConnachie, have lodged a special defence on his behalf, claiming the crime was committed not by him, but by Toni Louise McLachlan - the girlfriend of Robert MacPhail, Alesha's father.

On Wednesday, Ms McLachlan, 18, told the court she had no involvement in the killing, saying she loved Alesha "to pieces".

Prosecutors allege the boy was armed with a knife when he took Alesha from her bed at a house in Ardbeg Road in Rothesay, Bute, on July 2 last year.

It is claimed the boy then carried the schoolgirl to the site of the former Kyles Hydropathic Hotel on the island.

The indictment states he took off Alesha's clothes, shook her violently before placing his hands over her nose, mouth and around her neck.

The boy is said to have "applied pressure" to her face, inflicted injuries by "means unknown" with prosecutors alleging he went on to rape and murder Alesha.

The teenager also faces a separate charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

The trial continues.