Entwistle murder trial to take place in January
The date for the trial of Neil Entwistle, the York graduate accused of the murder of his wife and 9-month-old daughter, has been set for January 28, next year. He will be tried at the Superior Court in Middlesex, Massachusetts.
A defence motion to suppress evidence, arguing that the police were acting illegally when they searched his house and found the bodies of his wife and daughter, was rejected by Judge Diane Kottmyer at a pre-trial hearing on August 30.
Kottmyer said that police were justified in entering the house on January 21 and 22, 2006 because Rachel Entwistle had not responded to phone calls from family and friends, and feared for her safety.
“The officers never stepped out of their community care role,” Kottmyer said. “In these circumstances, I find the entries into the Entwistles’ home were reasonable.”
Entwistle graduated from the University of?York with a degree in Electronics Engineering in 2002. He met his wife at the University, where they were both members of the Boat Club.
He is accused of shooting his wife Rachel, 27, and their 9-month-old daughter Lillian with his father-in-law’s handgun. Their bodies were discovered by police in their home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts on January 22, 2006.
The police conducted two “well-being checks” on the home after being alerted by Rachel Entwistle’s mother and several friends of the family, all of whom had been unable to contact her.
The report of the Middlesex, Massachusetts District Attorney’s states that “while initially investigators only detected one gunshot wound to Rachel Entwistle’s torso, autopsy revealed that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.”
It continues: “The Chief Medical Examiner found Lillian’s cause of death to be a single gunshot wound to the abdomen. Both deaths were ruled homicides.”
Entwistle flew to the UK just hours after his wife and daughter were shot. His BMW was found abandoned several days later outside Logan airport in Boston by police.
The District Attorney’s report states that he was placed under arrest without incident on February 9 2006, at approximately 11:50am at Royal Oak tube station, by the Metropolitan Police Extradition Unit.
On February 16, 2006, before Framingham District Court, Entwistle entered a plea of not guilty, and was ordered held without bail by Judge Robert Greco.
Entwistle’s name has been linked to several pornography websites and internet scams, including srpublications.co.uk and deephotsex.com.
These domain names are registered in Entwistle’s name to the address of his previous student house on Heslington Road, just minutes away from the University of York campus.
