Accused 'joined swingers website'

Neil Entwistle's wife and nine-month-old baby were found shot dead in 2006

A Briton on trial for murdering his wife and daughter spent a month before their deaths looking online for sexual partners, a US court has been told.

Neil Entwistle joined the Adult Friend Finder website, a "sex and swinger personals community", the jury heard.

A police computer expert said the 29-year-old's profile claimed he was "looking for 1-on-1 relationships".

Mr Entwistle from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, denies murdering his wife Rachel, 27, and baby Lillian Rose.

His American wife, and their nine-month-old daughter, were found dead at their home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, on 20 January 2006.

A day later Mr Entwistle fled the US and travelled to Britain, where he was later arrested.

Detective Lawrence James, a computer specialist, told the Middlesex County Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts, Mr Entwistle's Adult Friend Finder profile was recovered from his laptop.

I'm looking to meet American women of all ages Neil Entwistle's profile message

It read: "I am an Englishman just moved over to the US. I am looking for 1-on-1 discrete (sic) relationships with American ladies and always aim to make all experiences ones to remember.

'We both want the same thing'

"I'm looking to meet American women of all ages. I need to confirm what friends have told me that you are much better in bed than the women over the ocean, as from there.

"We both want the same thing so there is little point dragging it out here."

The court heard the defendant used his credit card to pay $19.95 (about £10) for a month's membership to the site.

Detective James told the jury someone read e-mails associated with Mr Entwistle's username "ent" less than 90 minutes after he says he discovered the bodies of his wife and daughter.

Under cross-examination, the detective confirmed that a series of family pictures, which showed Mr Entwistle and his wife and daughter smiling, were recovered from the same laptop.

Dr William Zane told the court that a post-mortem examination had shown that Rachel died from a gunshot wound above her hairline.

She had also been shot to the left side of her chest, but this had not damaged any vital organs, he said.

Det Con Ronald Hay of New Scotland Yard's extradition unit said Mr Entwistle was found with a newspaper cutting showing adverts for escort services from the previous day's Daily Sport when he was arrested at Royal Oak underground station in London in February 2006.

On Wednesday prosecutors claimed the defendant searched the internet for advice on killing just days before his wife and baby daughter were murdered.

The jury was shown a diagram of major human arteries and "strike points" in the chest, found in the internet history of his computer.

Mr Entwistle faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the double murder.

The trial continues.