Washington.

IN A SERIOUS blow to the defence, the Los Angeles Judge hearing the O.

J. Simpson case ruled today that evidence found at his house the night

his ex-wife was murdered was admissible.

His lawyers had argued that police had entered the property without a

warrant.

The evidence includes a number of bloodstains, a pair of sneakers, and

other items. Perhaps the most damning is a glove, pair to one found next

to Mrs Simpson's body.

The hearing is a presentation of evidence against Mr Simpson, who is

charged with murdering his ex-wife, Nicole, and a friend, Ronald

Goldman, on June 13.

The Judge will decide whether the retired football star should be sent

to trial. No doubt his lawyers will continue to argue that evidence

taken at his house is inadmissible, and the matter may end up in the

California court of appeals.

The police arrived at Mr Simpson's house at 4.45am. They rang the

bell, without response, and eventually climbed the fence. Then they

found a guest staying in a guest house at the back, and Mr Simpson's

daughter, who let them into the house. The Judge found that they had

behaved reasonably.

The case continues to fascinate America. Newsweek Magazine, for

instance, has had O. J. Simpson on its front cover for three weeks in a

row, and earlier this week the Los Angeles hearing was being broadcast

live on seven television channels in New York.

The legal arguments were less dramatic than witnesses offered in

earlier sessions, but as soon as the Judge had ruled on the evidence at

Mr Simpson's house, the court reverted to high drama.

A detective took the stand to describe the scene of the crime and the

items collected there -- a knitted cap, a keyring, and the left-hand

glove. He said blood was running down the steps of the house from Mrs

Simpson's body, and there were the pawmarks of an animal in the blood,

leading down to the street.

The bodies were found at midnight after a man walking his dog noticed

Mrs Simpson's Akita barking frenziedly at the path leading to the house.

The first person to look in saw the bodies and a ''river of blood''

running down the steps.

Today's witness said there were also bloody footprints leading away

from the bodies and round to the back of the house.