Man killed dementia-hit grandmother then told nurse: ‘It’s time for her to go,’ court hears

A GRANDSON killed his dementiasuffering grandmother before telling care home staff, “She doesn’t know who anyone is,” a court heard.

Ruby Wilson, 94, was found in her chair at Forest Place Nursing Home in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, with her throat cut on Nov 29 last year. Antony Jennings, 33, is accused of murdering his grandmother after walking into the facility with a bag containing two knives.

Emergency services raced to the care home at around 1.20pm on the day of the alleged murder. Mrs Wilson was confirmed dead at 5.45pm that day.

A post-mortem examination on Nov 30 gave the provisional cause of death as an incised wound to the neck. A jury at Chelmsford Crown Court heard yesterday that the defendant launched the attack after going to visit his relative.

Stephen Rose, prosecuting, said: “She [a nurse] saw Mr Jennings and Mrs Wilson meeting and drinking tea together at the lounge table. Mrs Wilson appeared to be very pleased to see her grandson.” Jurors then heard that Mr Jennings asked to see the room where his grandmother was staying. The relatives went to the room and the court heard that, 10 minutes later, a psychiatric nurse “felt a tap on her arm”.

Mr Rose said: “It was Mr Jennings. He said, ‘I’m sorry, I just killed my nan’, to which [the nurse] reacted, ‘You’re joking’. He replied, ‘I’m not joking’.” Mr Rose added: “She heard the defendant saying something along the lines of, ‘I’ve killed her, I’ve killed her, it’s time for her to go’.”

Mr Jennings allegedly said later: “I don’t want her to suffer any more and she’s not in pain any more.”

He was also reported to have said: “I just can’t take it any more. She doesn’t know who anyone is. She’s in agony.” Mr Jennings, from Ilford, London, pleaded not guilty to murdering Mrs Wilson, but entered an alternative plea of guilty to manslaughter.

The trial, which is presided over by Judge Patricia Lynch QC and is expected to last up to three weeks, continues.