Dorothy Britton was shot in the head in March 1996, her son Christopher Britton has pleaded not guilty to murder

Closing arguments have begun in the Whitsunday cold case murder

Dorothy Britton was shot to death in March 1996.

UPDATE: A Crown Prosecutor has told a court the alleged murder of Whitsunday woman Dorothy Britton was “clearly a very personal killing” and could only have been committed by her eldest son.

Christopher Mark Britton has pleaded not guilty to the shooting murder of his mother on the evening of March 6, 1996.

Dorothy was found on her bed inside her Jubilee Pocket home with a gunshot wound to her head, wearing her nightie and still clutching a piece of linen, about dusk on March 7.

“We know the murder weapon was a shotgun,” Crown Prosecutor Sam Bain said in his closing argument to the jury.

He described it as a “very close and personal murder”, committed by someone who knew where a shotgun had been kept on the property, who could bypass Dorothy’s extremely protective dog Bella and whose presence that night did not cause any alarm.

Mr Bain told Mackay Supreme Court every viable option for the killer had been excluded “except one, Christopher Britton”.

Dorothy’s husband Ian Britton gave evidence a shotgun, like the type used to fire the fatal shot, had been kept on the property in an open shed.

Mr Bain told the jury that very few knew this, Christopher had been one of those few and everyone else had been excluded as being able to commit the crime.

Mr Bain said Christopher’s continued denial he had not known the shotgun was kept on the property should be discredited.

The court heard he allegedly had a motive. Multiple witnesses gave evidence during the trial, which began on March 24, that Christopher did not get along with his mother – some even said he hated her.

His brother Steven Britton testified that Christopher said he would “kill the bitch” a number of times.

The court heard Dorothy and her husband Ian Britton were on the cusp of serious marital problems sparked by his affair with a family friend, and that in any separation Dorothy was expected to come out on top financially.

In contrast, Mr Bain said Christopher was close to his father.

Dorothy was last seen alive at 12.30pm on March 6 – Mr Bain said a body of evidence narrowed her murder to between 8pm and 10pm that day, a time when Christopher’s movements could not be verified.

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Mr Bain said whoever entered the home had to be close enough to get by Dorothy’s rottweiler Bella, who would bark at people she did not know and even neighbours “unless you were part of the family”.

And whoever entered the property, Mr Bain said, “had never even caused her to stop folding the laundry in bed”.

Mr Bain said there had been multiple calls between Ian and Christopher, the context of which he alleged was the older man’s marital problems.

“You know what’s on Ian Britton’s mind … he is going to lose out big time,” Mr Bain said.

Christopher was seen by his housemate Damien Lloyd about 10.50pm walking away from the direction of Dorothy’s Timberland Road home – the court heard he had believed Christopher had been walking towards their Shingley Beach unit.

Mr Bain said this fit in with the time the Crown alleged the murder was committed.

Mr Bain also said Christopher had also allegedly confessed twice – once where he broke down “under pressure” a couple of months after his mother’s death and again as “a boast” to a young girl years later.

The court heard it was a circumstantial case, but Mr Bain said the circumstances alone established Christopher as the killer.

Mr Bain said circumstantial evidence was no lesser than direction evidence, just different.

“Circumstantial evidence can be just as strong, can be stronger, than direct evidence,” he said.

His closing arguments continue on Wednesday and will then be followed by closing arguments by the defence.

A Mackay Supreme Court jury heard evidence from a forensic scientist about DNA and blood splatter.

UPDATE: A forensic scientist testified that a number of clothing items police seized as part of the investigations into Dorothy Britton’s killing returned a negative result for blood.

The Whitsunday grandmother was shot to death in bed on or about March 6, 1996 inside her Jubilee Pocket home – the weapon used was a shotgun.

Her eldest son Christopher Britton has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Queensland Health forensic scientist Deborah Rogers told Mackay Supreme Court DNA tests were done on a number of clothing items police seized in relation to the killing.

Ms Rogers described the tests as “presumptive rather than confirmatory” as there were some “things that can cause a false positive”.

The court heard the items tested negative for blood.

Crown prosecutor Sam Bain asked if clothing had blood splatter on it and it was washed, would that cause a presumptive test to return a negative result.

Ms Rogers said depending on the detergent and chemicals used to wash the clothing and the voracity of the actual washing “that will all factor into how much and whether all of the blood was removed”.

“Is it also possible if the person had … wet blood splatter on them and then washed that off with water before it dried,” Mr Bain said, asking if that scenario could also return a negative result.

“As long as the blood is removed then it could give a negative result,” Ms Rogers said.

Ms Rogers said there were also factors that could result in biological material degrading.

“Biological material will naturally degrade with time,” she said, adding other factors that sped up degradation were UV light and chemicals like bleach.

The jury heard evidence about touch DNA including that if a person touched something it did not mean that DNA would be later detected.

Christopher Mark Britton has pleaded not guilty to murdering his mother Dorothy Britton with a shotgun in March 1996.

Defence barrister Jacob Robson asked Ms Rogers how many cells were needed to obtain a DNA profile.

Ms Rogers said “I can’t tell you exactly”, but added both quantity and quality of the cells were factors in obtaining a DNA profile.

“The DNA has to be intact, so not degraded for us to obtain a profile,” Ms Rogers said.

Mr Robson asked how sensitive “science and this technology” was in detecting if someone had touched an item.

“How sensitive is it to these cells?” he asked.

Ms Rogers said DNA profiling was sensitive, but that she would not be able to obtain a profile from one cell.

The court heard a person may leave behind one or 1000 cells depending on the manner in which an item was touched.

Dr David Williams was the final witness for the crown case.

He told the court Dorothy was killed by a gunshot wound to the head that entered the back right below the ear and exited out the left side of her head.

Dr Williams said death would have been instantaneous.

He told the court because of “putrification” it was difficult to determine Dorothy’s time of death.

Justice David North told the jury they would not likely begin deliberations until at least early Wednesday afternoon.

The trial continues this afternoon with closing arguments.

Dorothy Britton

EARLIER: A ballistics expert testified in court that markings on Dorothy Britton’s forehead suggested she may have been shot in the face with the bullet exiting towards the back of her skull.

Mackay Supreme Court has previously heard evidence she had been shot in the back of the head.

On Monday the jury heard evidence from a number of police officers linked to the case.

Sergeant Ian Bruce told the court he did not examine Dorothy’s body, but had reviewed official photographs and police reports including the pathologist report.

Dorothy was killed on or about March 6, 1996 at her Jubilee Pocket home. Her eldest son Christopher Mark Britton has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Sergeant Bruce said “firearm discharge residue” helped to distinguish the entry and exit of a bullet wound as it was linked to the entry point.

The court heard FDR, which is the material inside a cartridge that exits with the pellets and can also strike the target, was also known as tattooing or stippling and left “characteristic little red dots around the gunshot wound”.

RELATED:

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Whitsunday cold case trial day 6: Witness denies affair with murdered Whitsunday woman

Sergeant Bruce said photos of Dorothy’s body showed a number of little red dots around the wound to the right of her forehead that he said could be stippling, which would indicate a “front to rear shot” but he could not be certain.

The court heard the marks could also be blood stains.

Sergeant Bruce said the only way to tell would be if the pathologist had wiped the forehead during the autopsy and the red dots remained.

The court heard there were no notes to indicate the pathologist had wiped the area.

Pieces of damaged metal found near Dorothy’s spine were consistent with 12 gauge buckshot pellets fired from a shotgun.

Police did not find the shotgun used to kill Dorothy.

The court has heard Dorothy’s husband Ian Britton kept a shotgun in a shed on the Timberland Road property and that the weapon has never been found.

Sergeant Bruce said without the weapon used he was unable to determine how close the shooter had been when the weapon was fired.

Senior Sergeant Neil Shillington, who was a detective senior constable with Whitsunday Police Criminal Investigation Branch in March 1996, gave evidence “there was no sign of forced entry” to Dorothy’s home when she was shot.

Senior Sergeant Shillington said there was also no sign of a struggle.

Dorothy’s wallet and handbag containing $420 in cash were on a chair in the lounge room.

Defence barrister Jacob Robson questioned Senior Sergeant Bruce about a live shotgun cartridge found in a bag at Christopher’s unit and seized by police on March 12, 1996.

The court heard Christopher had told officers the cartridge had been in his possession for some time and officers had also found it on an earlier occasion.

Mr Robson asked Senior Sergeant Bruce if there had been anything to suggest his client was being untruthful and he said no.

The court heard police found a vest in the open shed which held three live shotgun cartridges and an empty slot.

A photo displayed in court showed the vest was dusty while the empty slot was free from dust and debris.

“It was quite obvious something had been removed from there quite recently,” former QPS officer Mark Whitehouse told the court.

He had been a detective sergeant, officer in charge of Whitsunday Criminal Investigation Branch and lead in the Dorothy Britton murder case until he retired in 2003.

Dorothy had been found in the early evening on March 7. He had arrived about 7.15pm that night.

Mr Whitehouse said he had rolled Dorothy’s body in an attempt to see if there was a gun underneath her to determine the next line of inquiry and had put her back as close as possible to how she was found.

The court heard police checks revealed it was about a five kilometre walk from Christopher’s home at Shingley Beach to Dorothy’s house and would take a good hour each way.

The court also heard there was nothing to suggest Christopher had a vehicle registered to him at that time and no taxis had dropped anyone off in that area.

Under questioning by Mr Robson, Mr Whitehouse said there had been no reports of a lone figure walking around Jubilee Pocket on March 6 or 7.

The court heard Christopher, during an interview with police in 1996, was asked if he would participate in a lie-detector test, to which he agreed.

Cold case officer Detective Sergeant Darren Mills was questioned about whether or not this occurred, to which he said it had been passed up the chain of comment “and knocked on the head”, meaning it did not happen.

The jury heard there were two more witnesses to testify for the Crown case. So far 42 witnesses have already given evidence.

The trial, under Justice David North, continues.

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Originally published as Dorothy Britton was shot in the head in March 1996, her son Christopher Britton has pleaded not guilty to murder