A senior detective in the Cooper twins murder investigation has denied a claim that Police ?planted? a crucial piece of blood-stained evidence near the scene where the brothers were allegedly beaten.

Detective Constable Garic Swainson said he was ?insulted? by the suggestion made by Courtenay Griffiths QC, representing defendant Kenneth Burgess.

Mr. Griffiths yesterday said that a Fubu sports shirt had been deliberately placed in an upper apartment at Crown Hill Lane, Devonshire, on March 15.

The trial has already heard from a DNA expert who said Jahmal Cooper?s DNA matched blood removed from the inside back of the shirt.

Skin cell tests to find out who had worn the shirt revealed Burgess? DNA on the inside collar.

Mr. Griffiths, cross-examining Det. Con. Swainson, said: ?One of your officers either individually or collectively that day planted that shirt in that premises.?

But Det. Con. Swainson, from the Hamilton-based Central Criminal Investigations Unit, said he was ?insulted? by the claim.

He said that he was outside the flat for the majority of the search, talking to Burgess? brother, and said he did not know whether a Fubu sports shirt had been seized.

Mr. Griffiths had made the same allegation to another Police officer who took to the witness stand earlier in the week.

Inspector Junior Watts said that apart from the Police Service photographer, he was the first person to enter the bathroom where the blood-stained Fubu shirt was found at the top of a pile of clothes in a bathroom hamper.

Earlier, the jury of seven women and five men heard the detective describe his visit to the ground floor apartment at Crown Hill Lane, where the prosecution claim Burgess launched a baseball bat attack on twins Jahmal and Jahmil in the early hours of March 13, last year, while co-accused Dennis Alma Robinson guarded the door.

Det. Con. Swainson, who was accompanied by other detectives and Burgess on the visit just before 3 a.m. on March 14, said he was looking for any evidence that would indicate an assault had taken place at the site.

He told the court he found no evidence of an attack, although the jury heard he had received no training on searching for forensic clues at crime scenes.

The trial has already heard how blood stains found on the concrete patio outside the ground floor flat and on stepladders, bathroom tiles and a window pain inside the site matched Jahmal?s DNA.

Det. Con. Swainson said the flat had a lot of ?junk? inside and three walls appeared to have been freshly plastered.

Rupert Knight, a garage foreman for the Police, also gave evidence yesterday.

He said he went to Cottage Hill Road on the evening of March 14, 2005, to pick up a green Suzuki jeep from outside Burgess? home.

It was towed to the Police garage.

But following a fire at the lower apartment at Crown Hill Lane, on March 17, the court heard that former Commissioner Jonathan Smith ordered it be moved to a working bay for greater security.

A week after the fire, Mr. Knight said the fuel tank was about half full.

He later told the jury that the vehicle was moved from a parking bay to a working bay at the compound every weekday for about three months, and when the jeep was released in June, the fuel tank was close to empty. The foreman said he had not put any petrol in the vehicle while it was in the Police compound.

Burgess, 33, of Hamilton Parish, and Robinson, 34, of Southampton, both deny murdering the Cooper twins on March 13, last year.

The high security trial, before Chief Justice Richard Ground, continues.