Neil Entwistle double murder trial opens in US

Jun 2 2008 By Gary Marks

BRITON Neil Entwistle goes on trial in the US today accused of murdering his wife, a former Midland teacher, and baby.

The first few days of the hearing are expected to be taken up with legal arguments and selecting the jury.

Entwistle is charged with shooting dead his 27-year-old American wife Rachel and their nine-month-old daughter Lillian Rose at their Hopkinton home in Massachusetts on January 20, 2006.

Rachel was a former teacher at St Augustine's High School in Redditch.

Up to 150 potential jurors will begin the selection process in front of judge Diane Kottmyer at the Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts, ahead of the trial, which is expected to last three weeks.

Entwistle, a 29-year-old former IT worker originally from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, denies two counts of murder and related gun charges, carrying a firearm without a licence and possession of a firearm without a federal ID card.

Prosecutors believe Entwistle shot and killed his wife and daughter in the house they were renting in Hopkinton before fleeing the US for his parents' home in Worksop the following morning.

He entered not guilty pleas at Framingham District Court in February 2006.

According to court papers, prosecutors believe Entwistle ran up debts of tens of thousands of pounds before the murders, his internet businesses had failed and he had no visible means of support.

He also allegedly searched the internet for information on how to kill people.

Entwistle has told police that he panicked and fled the US for his parents' house in Worksop, Nottinghamshire after finding the bodies.

He was arrested on February 9, 2006, at the Royal Oak underground station in London, and was transported back to America, escorted by US Marshals, on February 15. He was refused bail.

Elliot Weintein, defending Entwistle, has said his client could not get a fair trial in the US because of the media interest in the case.

Rachel's American mother Priscilla and stepfather Joseph Matterazzo have accused their son-in-law of an "unbearable" betrayal.