Clydach jurors retire until morning

Three generations of the family died in the attack

The jury in the Clydach murder trial has retired until Thursday morning.

Swansea Crown Court was told that the jurors would return at 1015 BST to continue considering their verdict.

Mr Justice Butterfield completed his third day of summing up on Wednesday and give final points of direction to the jurors before sending them off at lunchtime to review the evidence presented over the past two months.

He told the group of 11 - one was discharged after suffering a stroke - that they should use "common sense and knowledge of the world" in arriving at their decision.

Mr Morris denies all the charges

"There is no pressure on you as far as time is concerned, take as long as you want," he said.

Mr David Morris, 40, denies killing three generations of the same family at a house in the Swansea Valley on 27 June 1999.

Mandy Power, 34, her daughters Katie, 10, and Emily, eight, and her mother Doris Dawson, 80, all died in what has been described by the prosecution as a "massacre".

Mr Morris, of nearby Craig Cefn Parc denies the murder charges in the case which began at Swansea Crown Court in April.

The prosecution alleged Alison Lewis was responsible

Mr Butterfield reviewed the arguments the jury had heard over the past 11 weeks.

"The events of that night have left marks which are deep and, perhaps, indelible on the lives of many," he said.

"The prosecution say that the man responsible for these killings was David Morris.

"He, they say, possessed a sexual desire for Mandy Power and, on an evening when he was angry and rejected by his partner, fuelled with amphetamines and alcohol, he went to her home and pressed these desires."

It was the defence case that whoever the killer was it was "certainly not David Morris", the judge continued.

The house was set alight after the attacks

"The defence has asserted who the killer was, and they suggest that the police got it right in 2000 when they arrested Alison Lewis."

During his speech, Mr Butterfield graphically described the murder scene, saying the upstairs of the house was "awash with blood."

"You would need a heart of stone not to be deeply affected by the photographs of the injuries," he said.

He also asked the jury to consider whether former suspect Alison Lewis would have been able to carry out the killings.

He reminded the jury she had left the police after being unable to cope with dealing with a suicide.

Mr Butterfield invited them to consider all the evidence presented to them, but also said they should "view with caution" evidence about a gold chain found at the scene of the crime.

On Tuesday he said they might feel "anger and outrage" at the brutality of the murders, but told them there was no place for "emotion or prejudice."