A man accused of killing three generations of the same family may have left his handprint in the house where four people were "massacred", a court has heard.

Forensic scientist Bob Bell told Swansea Crown Court that two left-hand handprints were found on the lounge carpet of the home where Mandy Power, 34, was beaten to death with an iron bar along with her two daughters Katie, 10, and Emily, eight, and her invalid mother Doris Dawson, 80.

Forensic experts found a bath of blood

He said he found nothing to differentiate them from the handprint of builder David Morris, from Craig Cefn Parc in the Swansea Valley, who is accused of killing the family.

Mr Bell said that a handprint could never be proven to come from a particular person but it could exclude a suspect, although in this case "there was no possible way" Mr Morris could be eliminated.

Mr Morris is accused of the murders in June 1999 after his sexual advances were allegedly spurned by Mrs Power.

The four were bludgeoned to death at their home in Kelvin Road in Clydach, near Swansea, three years ago in what the prosecution described as a "massacre".

David Morris denies four counts of murder

On Tuesday the police officer who lead the murder investigation revealed how a blood-stained gold chain found at the scene was overlooked for a month.

Detective Superintendent Martyn Lloyd Evans said the chain only became a vital piece of evidence when it was realised it did not belong to any member of the murdered family.

The jury heard how Mr Morris repeatedly denied that the neck chain was his but had arranged for a relative, Eric Williams, to buy him an identical chain in Swansea weeks after the murders.

Mr Bell told the jury how a spot of green paint found on a gold chain found in a bedroom of the house was indistinguishable from that used on kitchen units at Morris's home nearby.

The jury visited the burned-out house in Kelvin Road

Mr Morris claimed he had seen the chain on a windowsill at Mrs Power's house some four weeks before her death.

He said she had told him it was from an admirer.

He also described how his relationship with his girlfriend - one of Mrs Power's best friends - was very volatile, and how he slapped Mrs Power during an argument one night.

Detectives said he had been the only person in their 21-month-long inquiry who had ever mentioned seeing the chain.

The case continues.