Alleged confessions left by the schoolboy son of an RUC officer, Mr John Torney, saying he had killed his mother and sister, were written by the teenager, a hand writing expert has concluded.
Mr Torney (40), on trial in Belfast for the murders, claims the confessions were also suicide notes left by his son, John jnr (13), who turned his gun on himself after shooting his mother, Linda, and sister, Emma.
Mr John Creaney, prosecuting, claimed the notes were fakes, an apology to his parents written after an argument over the family's pet dog.
The hand writing expert, Mr Stephen Maxwell, told Belfast Crown Court yesterday he had no doubt the two short notes were written by the schoolboy.
However, he said he could not say when they were penned, only that they had been written some time after September 8th, 1994, 11 days before Mrs Torney (33), her daughter Emma (10), and John were found shot dead in their beds.
In one note the schoolboy, apologising to his father, wrote: "Dear dad, I'm sorry for what has happened", while in the other he wrote about the family's dog having been given away: "I just wish you no gave away Sootie".