A MAN who appeared in court today charged with the slaughter of a Bolton mother and her two young sons was unexpectedly led back from the dock to the cells.

Peter Christopher Hall, aged 34, is charged with the triple murders of 30-year-old Celeste Bates and her children Daniel, aged eight, and baby Milo, aged 17 months.

But the Judge refused to proceed with the hearing at Manchester Crown Court until an independent medical report on Hall was presented.

It is now expected the hearing will not go ahead until the first week in March.

Hall appeared in the dock wearing a blue bomber jacket and yellow open neck shirt. He spoke only to confirm his name.

There was an emotional outburst from Celeste Bates' estranged husband Ian Bates as Hall was led down from the dock.

The small courtroom was so packed that some members of the public were allowed to occupy seats normally reserved for jurors.

Celeste Bates and her children were found battered to death at their whitewashed cottage home in Blackburn Road, Dimple, Egerton, last September.

A police officer made the gruesome discovery when Celeste's sister raised the alarm after finding she could not enter the house.

Hall, of Moss Shaw Way, Radcliffe, was arrested the next day after he was involved in a car crash - in Tottington Road, Walves, near Hawkshaw.

Hall, who helped to run a small heating company in Breightmet with his two brothers, has been held in the hospital wing at Strangeways Prison, Manchester.

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