A family member who was expecting to pick up their elderly aunt for a routine Sunday lunch found her lying dead in a partially burnt bungalow, a court has heard.
The trial of 70-year-old David Newton has commenced after he denied murdering 86-year-old widow Una Crown in her bungalow 12 years ago.
Sat in the dock at Cambridge Crown Court this afternoon was Newton, of Magazine Close in Wisbech.
Last year, Newton was arrested on suspicion of murdering Una Crown, also of Magazine Close. He was later charged and then denied the murder.
Mrs Crown was found dead in her house – Koning Inneweg. Her body had been set on fire and she had multiple stab wounds to her neck and chest.
At the beginning of the trial, the jury was reminded by judge Justice Garnham of Newton’s age and was told that the defendant suffers from ill health.
Newton was accompanied by an intermediary to assist him in the dock while the trial is taking place.
The court had heard from the prosecutor who started off by telling the jury how the husband of Mrs Crown’s neice, John Payne, had gone to collect their elderly aunt for lunch on January 16, 2013.
The court heard that this was a regular routine for Mrs Crown and her family and that she would usually stand at the bedroom window of her bungalow and wait for Mr or Mrs Payne to collect her.
However, when Mr Payne first arrived at the retired postmistress’s bungalow, he did not see Mrs Crown standing at her window.
He knocked at the locked door several times and peered through the bedroom window before ringing his wife Judith to inform her.
Judith told her husband that she would try ringing her aunt’s landline phone to alert her. She later called him back to inform him that her phone was engaged.
Mr Payne then went to the back of the property to see if he could see Mrs Crown in the kitchen. He peered through the window and could not see her. He also tried the back door, which was locked.
Knowing that Mrs Crown’s next-door neighbour had a spare key, Mr Payne made his way over to the neighbour’s house to ask to borrow it.
Mrs Crown’s neighbour was also an elderly lady who lived with her daughter, and at the time of Mr Payne calling, she had a carer coming to visit.
The carer said in a statement read out in court that she noted that Mr Payne looked “shaken up” and offered to accompany him back to Mrs Crown’s home with the front door key.
The jury was shown a photograph of what Mr Payne and the carer would have seen when opening the front door. They were told this would be the only full photograph of Mrs Crown they would see throughout the trial – which is estimated to last four to five weeks.
The photo showed Mrs Crown, lying face down on the carpet, her feet close to the front door, her arms were by her side and her legs were straight.
The carer’s statement continued that Mrs Crown was surrounded in “blood or bodily fluids”.
She said to Mr Payne that they needed to call the police and ambulance. She was informed by Mr Payne where Mrs Crown’s landline was kept and she found it disconnected with the cord hanging down.
The carer dialled 999 and alerted the emergency services to what they had found.
While on the phone, the carer had noticed several signs that there had been a fire in the property. She saw a burnt tea towel hanging on a rail as well as a burn mark on a wall.
She also saw a “mound of burnt debris” by the entrance to Mrs Crown’s bathroom as well as a “strong smell of burning” in the property.
The trial continues.