The killer of three generations of the same family either bathed or showered before leaving the murder scene, a jury has been told.

Swansea Crown Court heard that forensic scientist Claire Galbraith found a bath half full of bloody water at the home in Kelvin Road, Clydach, which Mandy Power shared with her two daughters, Katie and Emily, and her elderly mother, Doris Dawson.

Forensic experts found a bath of blood

All four were found dead at the house in June 1999, following what was described in court as a "massacre".

Scrap dealer David Morris, 40, from nearby Craig Cefn Parc, has denied committing the four murders.

Mrs Galbraith said evidence at the scene showed that Mrs Power, 34, had sustained the worst of her injuries in front of her bedridden mother.

Police later found a gold necklace lying in a pool of Mrs Power's blood on the bedroom floor.

'Spurned'

The prosecution has alleged that the necklace belonged to David Morris.

Earlier in the trial, the prosecution claimed that carried out the killings after the mother of two spurned his sexual advances.

He then set fire to the house to conceal his crime, it was claimed.

Opening the trial earlier this month, prosecuting counsel Patrick Harrington QC told the jury the family had been subjected to an "orgy of savagery".

He said they were beaten to death with an iron bar and that their deaths could only be described as a "massacre".

The trial continues.