Karl McKay is speaking out from his Winnipeg jail cell, just days after he was convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the death of five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair.

"You guys can sit there and say I have no feelings. Well, everyone shows their emotions in different ways. Not everyone cries. I'm one to hold their tears."

A lengthy appeal could delay a provincial inquiry into the death of Phoenix Sinclair by months or even years, the province warned Friday.

Jurors in the Phoenix Sinclair murder trial will begin a fourth day of deliberations today as the public gets a closer look at videotaped statements of the mother and stepfather charged with murdering her.

Watch excerpts of Karl McKay's taped interview with police during the investigation into the death of his stepdaughter, five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair.

Watch excerpts of Samantha Kematch's taped interview with police during the investigation into the death of her daughter, five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair.

In a video released Wednesday by a Manitoba judge, Karl McKay leads police to a shallow grave where Phoenix Sinclair, 5, was buried.

McKay and Samantha Kematch, Sinclair's mother, are charged with first-degree murder in the young girl's 2005 death. The jury has been deliberating since Tuesday night.

WINNIPEG - Three years after being shot with a pellet gun "just for the hell of it," beaten repeatedly with a metal rod and left to die naked on a cold basement floor by her mother and stepfather, little Phoenix Sinclair can finally be laid to rest by those who loved her.

The prosecutor says they were a united front when it came to killing Phoenix Sinclair -- but Samantha Kematch and Karl McKay were clearly at odds in defending themselves in court.

Dramatic twists and legal strategies involving the two accused that played out in the absence of the jury could mean a date with the Court of Appeal. The developments can only be reported now for the first time because jurors are sequestered.

Kematch's lawyers announced on the first day of the trial that they planned to put forward a defence of "duress" -- essentially claiming McKay was an abusive monster who forced her to attack her own daughter and prevented her from getting help for the girl. They told Queen's Bench Justice Karen Simonsen their client would likely take the witness stand and detail a litany of horrors she allegedly suffered at the hands of McKay.

Simonsen agreed Kematch's lawyers could introduce some evidence of "bad character" against McKay, including mentioning his criminal record and questioning his former wife about prior abuse. That prompted an immediate motion by McKay's lawyers to have separate trials. They claimed McKay's right to a fair trial was being poisoned by Kematch. The judge denied the motion.

LONDON - British troops will begin withdrawing from Iraq in March and will mostly be gone by June, the Ministry of Defense said Wednesday.

Jurors in the Phoenix Sinclair murder trial have resumed deliberations this morning.