kitchen, the Watson murder trial heard yesterday.

It spattered over walls and worktops and was then trailed through the house by Doe's dog, jurors were told.

The horrific details of the scene in Doe's cottage came on the seventh day of the trial of construction worker Milton Watson, who denies attacking the 68-year-old widower with a wrench. He is charged wth premeditated murder.

Scientist Keith Fryer, a Government analyst at the time of the 1988 incident, told the court he examined the scene at the request of Police.

He found spots and splashes of blood radiating from a large pool on the kitchen floor. Bloody paw marks, plus stains on a couch, armchair and bed, indicated Doe's dog had transferred blood to other parts of the house.

"It would appear that Mr. Doe was struck and very quickly fell to the floor,'' he said.

"He had been lying on his back during most of the assault and he did not appear to have struggled with his assailant or assailants. But at some stage during the assault he had laid his head against the side of the worktop.'' Bloody fingerprints on a shelf could have been made by Doe trying pull himself up or as he slipped down, he said.

Fryer said he found blood on a US $100 bill and a wrench Police gave him, but could not tell if it was animal or human.

His findings did not shed any light on who had committed the assault, he said.

The court then heard from Det. Supt. Wayne Perinchief, acting head of CID at the time of the incident. He said he had known Watson before then, having "had some association with him as a young man''.

He described how Watson confessed to the attack in a late-night question-and-answer session with detectives on December 17.

He agreed with lawyer Mr. Tim Marshall, defending, that Watson's account had been "very engaging', and had held his attention.

Questioned further by Mr. Marshall, Det. Supt. Perinchief said he may have seen Watson in passing the day before.

Mr. Marshall said: "When you saw Mr. Watson on the 16th he told you he was being abused by the Police officers and you told him: `If you talk it will stop'.'' Det. Supt. Perinchief replied: "That never happened.'' He was followed at the stand by Det. Sgt. Stevie Lightbourne, who told the court of his role in the early days of the investigation.

On December 10, he said, Watson told Police: "How could I be involved? I don't even know the man you are talking about.'' When Police became interested in a truck seen at Saucos' Hill the night of the incident, Watson was questioned about his movements.

Det. Sgt. Lightbourne said Watson described picking up a foreign girl hitchhiker by the Botanical Gardens and driving to Saucos Hill.

According to Watson, the girl admired the construction worker's "muscular body'' and afterwards performed oral sex.

Giving his account of the December 17 "confession'', Det. Sgt. Lightbourne was asked why Watson had said: "No, I'm not gay''.

Det. Sgt. Lightbourne said the comment referred to an earlier interview. "I asked him if he was gay,'' he said. The trial continues.