She continually tried to speak to Mandy Power, holding out her arms and speaking to her as though she were there

Prosecutor Patrick Harrington QC

She was only saved at the last moment when a friend who had been comforting her, and her husband, caught her at a bedroom shouting that she wanted to "join Mandy".

Former scrap metal dealer David Morris, 39, from Craig Cefn Parc in the Swansea Valley, denies murdering three generations of the same family at their home in nearby Clydach.

Invalid grandmother Doris Dawson, 80, her daughter Mandy Power, 34, and her granddaughters Katie, 10, and Emily, eight, were found dead in the Kelvin Road home early on 27 June 1999.

They had all been beaten to death with an iron pole and left in the house which was set on fire.

Prosecutor Patrick Harrington QC said the attack was so brutal it could only be described as a "massacre" in which the skulls of all four victims were crushed.

David Morris denies four counts of murder

On Thursday he told a Swansea Crown Court jury that police broke the news of the killing to Mrs Lewis at her home in Pontardawe on the morning firemen discovered the four bodies.

He said the news also devastated Mrs Lewis's police officer husband, Steven Lewis, who had been completely unaware that his wife was having a lesbian affair.

Mr Harrington said both were shocked by the news in different ways and it had, in effect, ended their marriage.

Mr Harrington said: "But Alison Lewis, during the day, was in a state of deep shock and deep emotional trauma."

"She continually tried to speak to Mandy Power, holding out her arms and speaking to her as though she were there.

"Fortunately, some sensible and responsible friends were there and recognised that Alison Lewis was in deep shock."

Katie Power was one of the child victims

He said that they arranged for medication to be given to her after she hyperventilated.

As Mrs Lewis walked around in a shocked state talking of her deep love for Mrs Power, the friends arranged for her to be given medication.

It was at this point that Mrs Lewis wandered upstairs to her bedroom and was pulled back from the window.

Mrs Lewis was eventually admitted to Cefn Coed psychiatric unit in Swansea, where she remained for some time.

But within a year of the killings, she was arrested with her husband on suspicion of murder. Both were later released without charge.

In outlining the case against Mr Morris, Mr Harrington said Mandy Power had become a "sexual adventurer" who indulged in lesbian relationships, after the break-up of her marriage.