A murder suspect has admitted there were a dozen different sets of his fingerprints at the Wolverhampton house where an elderly couple were battered and stabbed to death.

Four were found in the rear bedroom where the bodies of Giuseppe and Caterina Massaro were discovered, the city’s crown court heard.

Jurors heard how Ireneusz Bartnowski admitted that his fingerprints were on the front of an insurance document discovered on the bed, two plastic bags lying in the room and the mirror on the door of the wardrobe.

Other sets of the prints were in the front room, rear lounge, front bedroom and inside a cupboard, revealed prosecutor Mr Peter Grieves-Smith QC.

The DNA of the 22-year-old suspect was also found in the pocket of the trousers being worn by Mr Massaro when he was murdered.

The 80-year-old victim had withdrawn £500 from the bank the day before he was killed.

But Mr Peter Grieves-Smith QC, prosecuting, said money was stolen along with two televisions and the couple’s car after their home in Woden Road, Park Village, was broken into on the day of the murder.

Bartnowski, who lived for a short time with his sister whose house was next door to the home of Mr and Mrs Massaro, denies murdering the elderly couple.

A second man, Wojciech Ostolski, aged 32, of Chervil Rise, Heath Town, pleads not guilty to handling goods stolen from the home of the victims between April 20 and April 25.