Teenager guilty of murdering gran

Joan Biggs was killed in January last year

Teenager Lee Brown has been found guilty of murdering 79-year-old grandmother Joan Biggs in her Northampton bungalow.

Brown, 19, had earlier admitted raping the widow and the lesser charge of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

But on Tuesday, exactly a year on from the killing of Mrs Biggs, a jury at Northampton Crown Court found Brown guilty of murder by a majority verdict.

Trial judge Mr Justice Goldring adjourned sentencing until Wednesday, but told Brown: "I have in mind in relation to the rape a discretionary life sentence as well as the custody for life which I anticipate for the murder."

Hearing voices

Mrs Biggs was found dead at her home in Carlton Gardens, in the Kingsley area of the town, on 27 January 2003.

She had been assaulted and repeatedly stabbed the night before and her body was placed on a four-ring electric cooker which was then switched on.

By the time she was discovered, part of her body had been destroyed by the cooker.

In his defence, Brown claimed he was hearing a voice, which he called "Thingy", at the time of the attack.

Three psychiatrists analysed the teenager, but failed to agree whether he was suffering from a mental illness as he had claimed.