The Cooper twins' mother has spoken of her frantic attempts to get in touch with them on the day they vanished.

Amid tense scenes at Supreme Court One yesterday, Rochelle Cooper stepped into the witness stand a few feet away from the dock where the two men accused of murdering her twin sons were sat.

She said that on the morning the 20 year olds went missing she tried to call Jahmal's cell phone numerous times "but got no response".

Asked how many times she tried to make contact on March 13 last year, she added: "I dialled the whole day and never got any response." Jahmil did not have a cell phone, the jury was told.

When she got no reply, Ms Cooper said she called a friend, Kenneth Wolffe, who went to look for Gladwyn Cann. Eyewitness Mr. Cann told the trial earlier this week how he saw one of the accused, Kenneth Burgess, launch an attack on the twins at an apartment in Crown Hill Lane, Devonshire, on the night they disappeared. Before picking Mr. Cann up on the way to Hamilton Police Station, Ms Cooper said herself and Mr. Wolffe had driven to the property at Crown Hill Lane.

Ms Cooper was told the twins' bodies had been discovered at Abbot's Cliff on April 13. She identified their bodies at the hospital two days later.

The mother ? who has two other children ? said the last time she saw the twins was on March 11. They came in to see her at work in Trimingham's department store, Hamilton, and she gave them $20 each.

During cross examination from Courtnenay Griffiths QC, for Burgess, Ms Cooper denied she had trouble controlling the twins' behaviour from their early teens.

"They were getting in trouble with other people and the law from an early age," added Mr. Griffiths, who said Jahmil had a permanent scar after being attacked with a machete when he was about 19.

He asked if she became concerned when the brothers started hanging around Elliott Street.

"Why would I be concerned about their behaviour? " asked Ms Cooper.

"Because they were constantly getting into trouble," said Mr. Griffiths.

"They were not constantly getting into trouble," replied Ms Cooper, who later said there were instances when her twin sons got into trouble with Police that caused her concern.

She said Mr. Cann did not appear frightened when he was picked up to go to the Police station, and that she did not speak to him. And she said Rashad Cooper did not threaten or assault Mr. Cann before he was taken to the station.

Earlier, Ms Cooper said the twins dressed similarly. Jahmal wore two diamond rings, two chains around his neck and two wrist bracelets, while Jahmil wore earings.

She also told the court Jahmal had tattoos on his body, with 'twin' tattooed on his back, a panther on his inner arm and 'street' on one outer forearm and 'thuggin' on the other.

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Police probe into twins' disappearance under fire

Meanwhile, the early stages of the Police probe into the twins' disappearance came in for criticism yesterday ? as the court heard the approach to the case appeared "amateurish".

Questions were asked about security measures protecting Crown Hill Lane, Devonshire, and why a forensic photographer and scene-of-crime officers did not attend the property sooner in the investigation.

John Perry QC, representing Dennis Alma Robinson, asked Detective Constable Carl Neblett why no note was made of a visit to Crown Hill Lane with eyewitness Gladwyn Cann, at around midnight on March 13 last year.

Mr. Perry said Mr. Cann had earlier made a complaint to Police in which he said the twins had been kidnapped by four unknown men and added: "This (Crown Hill Lane) was the scene of a potential crime."

DC Neblett said officers had to make sure the location was correct before requesting a search warrant. And he told the court nobody went inside the apartment, where Mr. Cann told the jury earlier in the week that he had seen the twins attacked by Kenneth Jermaine Burgess early in the morning of March 13.

The detective added that he did not think it was necessary to make notes on the midnight visit.

Police visited the property again a few hours later at 2.25 a.m. on March 14, the court heard, this time with Burgess, who had been arrested on suspicion of causing GBH about two hours earlier.

Mr. Perry asked why scene-of-crime officers and a forensic photographer did not attend when this search of the apartment was taking place.

He added that officers would have known that allegations had already been made about violence taking place in the property.

DC Neblett said, at that stage, it was still to be confirmed whether violence took place at the property. He added that "to all appearances" it did not look like an assault had taken occurred at the Crown Hill Lane apartment at the time of the visit.

The jury was told that no photographer or scene-of-crime officers attended the downstairs flat until the afternoon of March 15.

The detective also confirmed no attempt was made to secure the property around the time Burgess visited ? leading Mr. Perry to ask why the Police approach at that stage appeared to be "amateurish".

At the end of a heated clash, DC Neblett said Police were acting on information received and had executed a search warrant at a location where an alleged assault had taken place.

Earlier, Mr. Griffiths read DC Neblett a statement taken from Rashad Cooper in which the court heard Mr. Cooper had assaulted a potential eyewitness to the alleged attack on the twins, before taking him to Hamilton Police Station.

Burgess, 33, and Robinson, 34, both deny murdering the twins on March 13, 2005.

The trial, which will run into its second week on Monday, continues.