Man convicted of murder after choking his sister

Killer called police and smoked cigarette, court told

A brother who choked his sister to death was convicted of her murder yesterday.

Charles Gordon, 52, is facing a life sentence after being found guilty of killing his sister Elizabeth Bowe at her flat at Bobby Jones Place, St Andrews, Fife, on September 17, last year.

Gordon,whodeniedmurder, smirked as he was led away to the cells.

He claimed he only grabbed his 50-year-old sister by the neck after she threatened to accuse him of raping her and said she would slash his face with a knife.

But, the jury convicted him of murdering her by compressing her neck, placing a dressing gown round her neck and a bag over her head.

Judge John Morris QC deferred sentence on Gordon, until July for background reports. He will determine then the punishment part of Gordon’s sentence.

“This is a very tragic case,” Judge Morris said.

Prosecutor Iain Mcsporran QC said: “Elizabeth’s family are clearly distraught with their loss. Her son is having difficulty coming to terms with the loss of his mother.” The High Court in Glasgow heard that Gordon strangled his sister and then called the police at 9.24pm.

He told a 999 operator: “I think I’ve killed my sister. She’s dead and I’m alive “

When asked why he did it, Gordon told the call handler: “Because she was a cheeky bastard, growling aw night. “

Police who arrived at the scene found Gordon calmly smoking a cigarette while his sister, who was naked from the waist down, lay just feet away from him with blood coming from her mouth and a blue dressing gown wrapped round her neck.

Torn pieces of a plastic bag, one of which had Elizabeth’s blood on it, were nearby. Gordon told police officers who battled to save Elizabeth: “She’s already dead, you might as well give up.”

Elizabeth was taken to Ninewells hospital in Dundee where she died on September 20, last year.

Pathologist Dr David Sadler told the court that Elizabeth, who was 5ft 6in and weighed seven stones fourpunds, died from strangulation.

He said the the most likely scenario was that Gordon had strangled Elizabeth with one hand and had the other clamped over her mouth.

In evidence, Gordon admitted killed Elizabeth, but not murdering her. He will be sentenced next month.