A jury has heard how a south Wales woman who was murdered alongside her mother and two daughters was frightened of the man accused of the killings.

Gary Beynon, a close friend of Mandy Power, told Swansea Crown Court that she had spoken to him about her fear of David Morris.

David Morris denies four counts of murder

Mrs Power, 34, her invalid mother Doris Dawson, 80, and daughters Katie, 10, and Emily, eight, were found bludgeoned to death at their home in Kelvin Road, Clydach, in June 1999.

Former scrap metal dealer David Morris, 39, from Craig Cefn Parc in the Swansea Valley, denies four charges of murder.

Mr Beynon, a hospital nurse, told the court on Wednesday that Mrs Power had been a close friend of Mr Morris's partner Mandy Jewell.

But he said her only reference to the defendant was to say he frightened her.

The trial - which opened last Wednesday - was told that the family had been subjected to an "orgy of savagery".

Katie Power was one of the child victims

Patrick Harrington, QC, prosecuting, told the jury that the family were beaten to death with an iron bar and that their deaths could only be described as a "massacre".

He said five separate fires were then started in the family home in an effort to destroy evidence.

Details of Mrs Power's private life have also emerged.

Mr Harrington described how after her divorce from the father of her daughters, Mrs Power had become something of a "sexual adventurer".

She had got involved in both lesbian and heterosexual relationships - including one with the defendant - after her marriage broke down.

At the time of the murders, Mrs Power was in a steady relationship with former police officer Alison Lewis, who tried to commit suicide after hearing about the murders.

The court also heard evidence from Kimberley Wilson, another friend who stayed at the family home on the night before the murders.

Ms Wilson said Mrs Power seemed quiet and not her normal self when she arrived home the following morning with Mrs Lewis.

Mandy Power's former lover Alison Lewis

Ms Wilson said she left the house at lunchtime and visited Mrs Lewis the following day after hearing about the killings.

She said Mrs Lewis was already speaking to the police, looking calm at first and then upset.

It is alleged that father-of-two Mr Morris allegedly carried out the killings after Mandy Powers spurned his sexual advances.

Mr Harrington claimed that Mr Morris had lied to police about losing his gold chain during the attacks.

The defendant had originally maintained the bloodstained chain found at the murder scene, did not belong to him.

But four days before the start of the trial, Mr Morris changed his story and said the chain was in fact his.

The trial continues.