BLOODSTAINS in a council flat bedroom showed that alleged murder victim Peter Robinson was struck at least eight times, including two blows with a door, a jury heard.

Forensic scientist Samantha Warnakulasuriya also said the clothing and shoes of three men accused of the murder had Mr Robinson's blood on them.

She said she found bloodstains on the walls, bed, door and floor of the room in Trent House, Margaret Street, off Walmgate, York where his body was found.

She also found bloody shoe marks, blood-matted hair clumps, bloody fingermarks near and on a window and a bloody shattered electrical socket.

She assumed that all the blood had come from Mr Robinson, she told the jury at Leeds Crown Court yesterday. She said the evidence she found showed that, in her opinion, Mr Robinson had been struck at least eight times while injured and bleeding.

"The blows appeared to have been struck in the bedroom, with the first blow being dealt while he was lying on the bed.

"Subsequent blows appeared to have been dealt whilst Mr Robinson was close to the ground, and appeared to have been dealt sequentially in an anti-clockwise direction around the room, and finishing in the corner of the room near the foot of the bed where his body was subsequently found."

Bloodstains on the door showed that it had been used as a weapon to hit Mr Robinson at least twice, she alleged, and Mr Robinson's head had been struck against the damaged wall socket.

York man John Wood, 39, of Trent House, Wilfred Barlow, 44, of no fixed address, but formerly of Bramham Avenue, Chapelfields, and Paul Darch, 36, of Horsman Avenue, off Cemetery Road, all deny murder.

The forensic scientist said that someone appeared to have tried to clean up some of the blood.

The blood at the bed indicated that the first blow there had been struck a few minutes after Mr Robinson started to bleed from either the nose or the mouth.

In her opinion, bloodstains found on their clothes showed that Wood and Barlow had hit Peter Robinson with their shoes. Wood had also kicked him and Barlow had stamped on him. Both had been present during the later stages of a prolonged attack on Mr Robinson.

She said there was very little blood on Darch's clothing. In her opinion the stains she found on items worn by him showed that he had been present in the first few minutes of an assault on Mr Robinson.

The forensic team had also found bloodstains on clothing and shoes belonging to alleged eyewitness Karen Bulmer, who has given evidence for the prosecution against the three defendants.

The trial continues.

Updated: 09:54 Tuesday, October 11, 2005