Murder jury to hear sex-site evidence

Published on 17/06/2008 22:07

THE US jury trying Briton Neil Entwistle for the murder of his wife and baby will be allowed to hear evidence that he trawled internet sex sites in the days before the killings, the judge ruled yesterday.

US prosecutors will also be allowed to introduce evidence showing Entwistle used his laptop computer to search for local escort services and to join a website to look for a sexual relationship.

Meanwhile, the trial was told that DNA on the grip of a gun used to kill his wife and baby was five billion times more likely to be his than any other white male.

The 29-year-old former IT worker's DNA also matched profiles found on the gun case for the revolver, a gun lock and a green metal ammunition can, forensic scientist Laura Bryant said.

Entwistle denies murdering his 27-year-old American wife Rachel and their nine-month-old daughter Lillian at their new home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, on 20 January, 2006.

The gun's owner, Entwistle's father-in-law Joseph Matterazzo, other members of the Matterazzo family who went sports shooting at the same club, and Rachel Entwistle were all excluded from the DNA found on the gun's grip, the court heard.

Ms Bryant, a supervisor with the Massachusetts State Police crime laboratory, said the DNA sample taken from the grip of the .22 Colt revolver was one in 5.299 billion times more likely to be from Entwistle than any other white male.

But the DNA of Mr Matterazzo, who used the revolver at his gun club the day after the murders, was found on the trigger while Entwistle's was not, the court heard.

Entwistle faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the double murder.