Woman beat grandmother to death

A woman has been found guilty of murdering her grandmother by battering her over the head with a spade.

Joanne Hussey, 33, had admitted killing 76-year-old Annie Garbutt but denied murder, claiming voices in her head told her to do it.

A jury at Leeds Crown Court took just one hour to find her guilty of the murder at Mrs Garbutt's home in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, last May.

Hussey, from Yeadon, Leeds, will be sentenced next month.

She had admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The court heard how Hussey beat her grandmother over the head and left her lying in pools of blood on her bed.

"This was a particularly brutal and callous crime"
Det Supt Andy Brennan

Hussey had been worried about the financial implications of Mrs Garbutt, an Alzheimer's sufferer, going into a home, the jury was told.

She initially told police that she had found her grandmother dead in her bedroom but later admitted to killing her and said that she suffered from a mental abnormality.

The court heard how Hussey had told a doctor she had been hearing voices in her head for about two weeks telling her to get rid of "bad people".

But a psychiatrist called to examine Hussey found her to be "logical, with rational thought processes that were inconsistent with the symptoms she described".

Mrs Garbutt, a widow who had lived alone since her husband died 11 years earlier, suffered multiple lacerations and fractures in the attack.

A pathologist revealed there was evidence that the defendant had sat or knelt on her grandmother's chest during the assault.

Hussey hung her head in the dock as Judge Scott Wolstenholme told her to expect a life sentence.

He adjourned sentencing until 11 June for psychiatric reports to be prepared.

After the hearing, Det Supt Andy Brennan, from West Yorkshire Police, said: "This was a particularly brutal and callous crime carried out by Joanne Hussey on her grandmother whilst she was asleep in her own bed.

"Hussey went to great lengths to conceal her involvement in this crime by attempting to forensically clean her car, clothing, the scene and the spade used to kill Annie."

Mr Brennan said Hussey was an "accomplished liar" who would "stop at nothing to avoid being prosecuted and ultimately convicted by attempting to get her family and friends to tell lies to the police on her behalf".

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