17/02/2006

Entwistle denies family murder

Briton Neil Entwistle has pleaded not guilty in a US court to the murder of his American wife and nine-month-old daughter.

Mr Entwistle, 27, was extradited from the UK on Wednesday. He had been staying with his parents in Worksop, Nottinghamshire since leaving the US on January 21.

The bodies of Rachel Entwistle and the couple's daughter Lillian were found at their home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts on January 22.

At the two-minute hearing at Framingham district court, Neil Entwistle was remanded without bail to appear before court again on March 15.

Mrs Entwistle's mother Priscilla and stepfather Joseph Matterazzo both attended the hearing. In a statement read to reporters after the hearing, they said: "Neil betrayed our trust in so many different ways that it is almost impossible to describe.

"To think that someone we loved and trusted, opened our home to, could do this to our daughter and granddaughter, is beyond belief."

Mr Entwistle's lawyer, Elliot Weinstein, expressed concerns that Mr Entwistle would not be able to receive a fair trial, due to the publicity surrounding the case.

(KMcA/GB)




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