'Massacre' trial case continues

Three generations of the family died in the attack

The prosecution at Swansea Crown Court will continue outlining its case on Thursday in the trial of a man accused of the "massacre" of an entire south Wales family.

Former scrap metal dealer David Morris, 39, from Craig Cefn Parc in the Swansea Valley denies murdering three generations of the same family at their home in nearby Clydach.

David Morris denies four counts of murder

The prosecution has already described the murders as an "orgy of savagery".

The crime at the family's home in Clydach in June 1999 led to the largest and most complex police investigation in Wales.

The trial is sitting with a new jury after one of its members was taken ill in court on Tuesday while watching video footage of the murder scene.

The jury, containing nine of the original jurors, was sworn in on Wednesday and the trial restarted when it became clear the young man could not continue.

Invalid grandmother Doris Dawson, 80, her daughter Mandy Power, 34, and her granddaughters Katie, 10, and Emily, eight, were found dead in the Kelvin Road home early on 27 June 1999.

They had all been beaten to death with an iron pole and the house set alight.

Katie Power was one of the child victims

On Wednesday, the second jury was shown a 40-minute video of the murder scene.

Prosecutor Patrick Harrington QC said the attack was so brutal it could only be described as a "massacre" in which the skulls of all four victims were crushed.

Mrs Power, who was battered 38 times with the iron bar, had been the focus of the attack.

Her mother Mrs Dawson was killed in her own bed and her body set on fire.

Both she and Mrs Power's two young daughters were probably killed as witnesses, the prosecution alleged.

"There was no great amount of noise, no screams or shouts," said Mr Harrington.

'Sexual adventurer'

Mandy Power rushed from room to room trying to protect her family and herself, but she was no match for her attacker's brutality.

Mr Harrington said the young mother had become a "sexual adventurer" who indulged in lesbian relationships, after the break-up of her marriage.

Although in a settled relationship with former policewoman Alison Lewis at the time of the attack, the court heard Mrs Power had previously been involved with Mr Morris's girlfriend.

Mr Morris had been angry at the way the relationship had broken up although he had never approved of it, the court heard.

He later told police he had had a sexual relationship with Mrs Power in the weeks before her death.

Mr Morris matched the killer's profile due to a number of character traits, Mr Harrington alleged.

He said Mr Morris was "forensically aware", adding that the initial investigation had been hampered by false leads.

Mr Morris initially denied that a gold chain found at the murder scene belonged to him, but admitted only days before the trial that it was "probably his".

Mrs Lewis, her police officer husband and his brother - also a serving police officer - came under the "false finger of suspicion" when they were held and questioned by police, the court heard.

All three were later released without charge.