Los Angeles, Thursday

THE first policeman to arrive at the spot where O J Simpson's ex-wife

and her friend were murdered today gave graphic evidence of their

blood-soaked bodies and of bloody footprints leaving the scene.

Robert Riske told Simpson's double murder trial in Los Angeles that he

saw ''a female, white, in a black, black dress, lying in a puddle of

blood on the walkway.'' He identified the body as that of Nicole Brown

Simpson. A pool of blood under her flowed down towards the sidewalk.

Riske said one of 25-year-old Ronald Goldman's eyes was still open. He

prodded the eyeball to see if he could get any reaction but he was dead.

Photographs of the bodies were displayed on a large screen for the

jury who saw Nicole Simpson curled at the bottom of steps, her head a

mass of blood partially covered by blood-matted blonde hair, and her

bare legs smeared in blood.

Goldman was resting against a fence, his blood-covered shirt pulled

partially over his head, and his jeans soaked in more blood.

Simpson, an American footballer turned film actor, has denied stabbing

his ex-wife and Goldman to death.

Riske said he saw a trail of bloody footprints leading from the

pavement outside Nicole Simpson's home towards the front door and then

along an alleyway along the side of the house.--Reuter