Entwistle pleads not guilty

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- The man accused of shooting his wife and baby daughter was held without bail Thursday following his first court appearance after his return from England.

Neil Entwistle, 27, pleaded innocent to the double murder charge, WCVB-TV reported. His brief court appearance attracted a large pack of reporters and television crews from both sides of the Atlantic.

Entwistle, who was arrested in London, agreed last week to waive extradition, although he maintained his innocence. He said he returned to his rented home in Hopkinton, a suburb southwest of Boston, to find his wife and daughter dead.

Middlesex County (Mass.) Prosecutor Martha Coakley has suggested that Entwistle, deep in debt, planned a murder-suicide but lost his nerve after he shot his family.

Rachel Entwistle's mother and stepfather observed the hearing surrounded by relatives and friends.

"We never suspected that Neil was anything other than a loving father, a trusted son-in-law and a husband," a family spokesman, Joe Flaherty, told reporters. "Neil betrayed our trust in so many different ways that it is almost impossible to describe it."