A man "massacred" four members of one south Wales family in a drunken rage, a court has been told.

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

The Swansea Crown Court trial was halted after two days on Tuesday, when a male juror collapsed while viewing video footage of the murder scene.

A new jury - including nine of the original jurors - was sworn in and the trial restarted when it became clear he could not continue.

The judge criticised the jury system in England and Wales, which does not allow alternate jurors to take over in such circumstances.

Brutal attack

Grandmother Doris Dawson, 80, her daughter Mandy Power, 34, and her granddaughters Katie, 10, and Emily, eight, were found beaten to death in the Kelvin Road home they shared on 27 June 1999.

The new jury has been shown the video footage of the murder scene, filmed by police shortly after the victims were discovered.

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.

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

David Morris denies four counts of murder

Mrs Dawson, an elderly invalid, was killed in her bed and her body set on fire.

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

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

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

Fires started

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

He was someone with a tendency for violence, known to Mrs Dawson and the children, and was a smoker who was right handed.

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

Five fires deliberately started at the house by the killer had almost destroyed the evidence.

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 came under the "false finger of suspicion" when they were held and questioned by police one year after the killings, the court heard.

All were later released without charge.

'Awful irony'

Mr Harrington also told the court that the murder weapon - a four-foot metal pole - had been kept at the Kelvin Road house due to an "awful irony".

He said it had been left there by a former occupant, in case his wife needed to protect herself at home.

"When he moved out he left it behind. The awful irony is that the implement was intended, if it was to be used, to be a defensive weapon," Mr Harrington said.

"It actually became the murder weapon in this case."

The case continues.