A former police chief has told the Clydach murder trial that a bloody handprint was a better match with a former girlfriend of one of the victims than with defendant David Morris.

Ex-Detective Chief Inspector Peter Swann, an authority on fingerprinting, told Swansea Crown Court he believed the handprint did not belong to Mr Morris, 40.

A witness said a bloody handprint was probably not Mr Morris'

The defendant denies the murders of Mandy Power, 34, her daughters Emily, 10, and Katie, eight, and grandmother Doris Dawson, 80, at Clydach, near Swansea, in 1999.

Mr Swann's evidence suggested the print was a better match with former police officer Alison Lewis, who had an affair with Mrs Power.

The jury also heard evidence on Friday from martial arts expert Mick Finn - a former police officer - who explained the victims' injuries could have been caused by a person with martial arts training.

Mr Finn demonstrated in court with a broom handle how a martial arts weapon may have been wielded.

The trial is due to continue on Monday.

The print was a 'better match' to Alison Lewis

On Thursday, the trial was stopped to allow a juror the chance to meet the Queen and Prince Phillip in Bridgend on their Golden Jubilee tour of Wales.

Judge Mr Justice Butterfield told Swansea Crown Court it was be wrong to deny the juror such an honour.

On Wednesday, Mr Morris's live-in girlfriend, Mandy Jewell, told the court a gold chain he claimed to have been wearing the night of the murders - described as a "massacre" by the prosecution - was not bought until months later.

Ms Jewell said the chain was bought at least two months after her best friend, Mrs Power and her family were bludgeoned to death at their home.

Mr Morris had told the court that this was the chain seen around his neck by witnesses on June 27, 1999 - and not the one later found "at the heart of the murder scene" covered in Mandy Power's blood.

The home in Kelvin Road was burnt out

Mrs Jewell said she had lied to police about what time Mr Morris had arrived home that night - and that he had lied too.

She said she could not remember what time he came home.

On Tuesday, the second day of his defence, Mr Morris addressed the jury, explaining how he had been jailed for a string of theft and violence offences.

The convictions included a four-year sentence for the robbery of a woman he had thrown over the bonnet of a car.

Mr Justice Butterfield had ruled that the jury should be told details of Mr Morris's past and the defendant took to the witness box to be cross-examined by Patrick Harrington QC.

Mr Morris denied that he was a man "capable of violence" and that he had carried out the killings, starting a number of small fires around the semi-detached house to cover his tracks.