A US "blood spatter" expert gave evidence yesterday in the case against Andrina Tamara Smith, who is accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death.

Jan Johnson helped investigate the death of Allan Edward (Sleepy) Dill, 35, who bled to death from a neck wound at Smith's apartment on October 16 2006.

Prosecutors conducting Smith's Supreme Court murder trial say Mr. Dill slapped Smith, 26, during an argument. She allegedly reacted by plunging a kitchen knife through a wooden door and into his neck as he tried to block her from a room.

She denies murder, and Ms Johnson returned to the Island to give evidence at her trial yesterday.

She told how she went straight to the crime scene in Cedar Park Road, Devonshire, after arriving at the airport on October 18 2006. She spent hours that evening and the following day taking photographs and documenting blood stain patterns there.

Photographs shown to the jury earlier in the case depicted several rooms with evidence of heavy blood loss.

Beginning her evidence yesterday, Ms Johnson showed the jury items she had documented including wood chips from the door in question, a green bag hanging from the door knob, a screwdriver wedged in the doorlock on the inside, and a sheet and pillowcase.

She is expected to give further details of her findings as the case continues today.