AMMANFORD hairdresser Kelly Hyde was attacked in "the most dreadful and brutal fashion" as she walked her pet dog in woods near Pantyfynnon, a crown court jury heard today.

Prosecutor Patrick Harrington told the Swansea hearing how 24-year-old Ms Hyde died of blunt force trauma in what may have been a double attack which caused multiple fractures to her face and skull.

Mr Harrington revealed the 17-year-old charged with her death may have returned home to collect a 2.5kg barbell weight he then took back to carry out a further brutal and ultimately fatal assault.

A hushed courtroom heard there was even a possibility that Kelly had somehow survived both assaults only to drown after being dumped in a nearby stream.

Mr Harrington told the court that the attack last September appeared to be without motive and that there was no evidence of sexual assault.

"The violence he used was gross in the extreme," Mr Harrington told the jury.

"The majority of the attack was directed to her head - the most vulnerable part of her body.

"He attacked her in a dreadful and most brutal fashion."

The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murder and the trial continues.

(See tomorrow's Guardian for a full report)