Daphne Caruana Galizia's alleged murderers were back in court on Thursday morning as the compilation of evidence against them resumed.

10.37am: Case is adjourned until May 22 where the American experts are expected to testify.

10.30am: Magistrate is told a number of witnesses are not present in the court room. The inspector says he does not know whether they were absent because they had not yet completed their reports. Magistrate laments that witnesses who failed to turn up should at least give some feedback so as not to waste court time.

10.26am: Inspector Keith Arnaud presents a copy of the sentence for suspect Alfred Degiorgio saying he had relapsed. 

10.20am: Joseph Bondin from the Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit says he was among those who searched a farmhouse in Mosta connected with one of the alleged killers. Europol and the forensics unit assisted, but the search yielded nothing.

Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered on October 16.

10.11am: Alex Smith, warrant officer from the bomb disposal section. He says he inspected the crime area on October 16 for a second device and evacuated the area, which was still full of people, mainly police and Civil Protection Department officers. He also went there the next day to carry out security searches with the foreign experts but did not find any explosives.

They saw cigarette butts close to the victim's house, which were taken by the police on the scene for investigation.

10.07am: Witness John Gera presents a report after he monitored safety precautions while work on the scene of the crime was being carried out.

10am: Criminologist Saviour Formosa says he analysed the crime area and presented a digital version. The court has asked for a 3D digital model of the car and the area. Prof. Formosa, an expert in geographical spatial analysis, says he must travel to the UK to get such a model.

9.51am: Inspector Antoine Cilia presents a report he drew up, which includes data track record of Daphne Caruana Galizia's car and details, including photos, from the scene. When questioned by lawyer Martin Fenech, the inspector confirms it was only he who had access to the photos.

9.45am: Defence lawyer Martin Fenech was initially absent from the court room but the magistrate says the case can proceed without the presence of all lawyers since so far it's a case of compilation of evidence. He shows up minutes later.

9.25am: The key players in this case are convening in the courtroom presided by Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit.

The case is taking place amid tight security. Photo: Reuters

Event timeline

Ms Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bomb blast on October 16 close to her home in Bidnija. During an interview with the Daphne Project, released last week, the victim's son recalled the full horror of that afternoon. 

In December, police arrested 10 men in connection with her murder.

Three of those - brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio and Vincent Muscat - were charged with her murder. The others were released without charge.

So far, the magistrate has heard how:

• A laptop taken by investigators from Ms Caruana Galizia's residence shows the last data dated back to December 2015. She was using another laptop when she was killed.
• DNA on cigarette butt from Bidnija field matched cigarette butts found at the Marsa potato shed.
• Police used the FBI's help to home in on suspicious phone numbers. One was linked to a remote-controlled device and went active at 2am in Bidnija on the day of Ms Caruana Galizia's murder. It received an SMS at the time the bomb went off and immediately went off-radar.
• Police believe that the phone which sent the bomb detonation SMS was an old Nokia 105. Police found several Nokia 105 phones at the Marsa shed where they arrested the suspects.
• Police triangulated cell tower data to work out that the killer SMS was sent from out at sea. George Degiorgio was seen going fishing on that day, and shortly after the bomb went off texted his partner "buy me wine, my love."
• Investigators received reports of a suspicious car regularly parked by tat-Tarġa Battery - an ideal vantage point for the killers - in the weeks leading to the murder. The car was subsequently never seen there again.

The on-site compilation of evidence took place last week in Bidnija. Photo: Jonathan Borg

The key courtroom players:

Martin Fenech is appearing for Vince Muscat, known as il-Koħħu, 55 and from Msida.

William Cuschieri and Martha Muscat are appearing for Alfred Degiorgio, known as il-Fulu, 53, and from St Paul's Bay.

Josette Sultana is appearing for Alfred's brother George Degiorgio, known as iċ-Ċiniz 55, and also from St Paul's Bay.

Philip Galea Farrugia from the attorney general's office and inspectors Keith Arnaud and Kurt Zahra are appearing for the prosecution.

Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia are appearing parte civile.