Ex-soldier ‘in threat to kill partner after smothering granny’

A FORMER soldier accused of smothering his grandmother later threatened to suffocate his girlfriend, a court heard yesterday.

Barry Rogers held a cushion up and warned his love Rhianne Morris: “I’ll do it in your sleep, no one will know,” a jury was told.

Iraq veteran Rogers is charged with smothering retired nurse Betty Guy, 84, who he knew as Nan, at her home in Johnston, Pembrokeshire, in November 2011.

She had been given a cocktail of whisky and crushed tablets by Rogers’ mother Penelope John, Swansea Crown Court was told.

Rogers, 33, of Fishguard, and John, 50, of St Dogmaels, Pembrokeshire, deny murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter.

Yesterday, girlfriend Ms Morris told the jury how she and Rogers got together in the summer of 2010.

Rogers’ mood changed after Guy’s death, it was alleged.

“He was a lot angrier than he ever Betty Guy was 84 Mrs was before and he used threats,” Ms Morris said.

“He would say, ‘I’ll get rid of you in your sleep’, ‘I’ll do it in your sleep, no one will know it’, and as he said that he used to take a pillow off the sofa or wherever we were and hold it up to his face.

“I remember him once saying, ‘I’ll do to you like I did to her’ but I didn’t know who he meant by that or what he meant by that.”

Ms Morris, who told the jury their relationship ended after Rogers made an attempt at suicide, said she met Mrs Guy at least 10 times and saw that the pensioner, who was suffering from cancer, was in pain.

She told the jury that Rogers had said to his grandmother: “Don’t worry about it, Nan. If it gets too much, I’ll finish you off.”

Cross-examined, Ms Morris described his words as “just banter” adding: “It was a joke, everybody laughed.” The trial continues. to make