Jury out on grandmother's death

Lee Brown denies the murder of Joan Biggs

A jury has been considering its verdict on a teenager accused of raping and murdering a pensioner.

Lee Brown, 19, is accused of murdering widow Joan Biggs at her Northampton home on 27 January last year.

Brown has admitted burglary and rape but denies murder. He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Jurors at Northampton Crown Court were told to consider Brown's mental health.

Three psychiatrists in the case were unable to agree on whether the teenager was suffering from serious mental health problems.

Brown 'heard voices'

Brown claims he was hearing voices at the time of the attack ordering him to kill the grandmother.

Prosecution counsel Yvonne Coen QC told the jury of 11 women and one man Brown had created the argument solely to avoid a murder charge.

Sending out the jury, Mr Justice Goldring said: "Was this the uncontrolled rage of a young man suffering a psychopathic disorder directed towards the occupant of the house or the case of a young man suddenly overwhelmed with a mental illness from which he quickly recovered?"

The court heard Mrs Biggs was found dead on a four ring cooker hob in the kitchen of her bungalow in Carlton Gardens.

She had been stabbed the night before and assaulted in her bedroom before being moved to the kitchen.

Search teams found jeans and a jumper stained with Mrs Biggs's blood in a cupboard in the house where Mr Brown was living next door to the victim.

They also found a bent knife - pieces of which were also found in Mrs Biggs's home - as well as jewellery, Mrs Biggs's purse and her travel pass.

Mr Justice Goldring directed the jury to acquit Brown of an earlier charge of attempted burglary on a neighbouring house.

He said there were "several basic weaknesses" in evidence from a neighbour who identified Brown as the youth seen nearby.