Joanne Hussey's colleague Denis Bartholomew told Leeds Crown Court she had confided that she and her mother were trying to get Alzheimer's sufferer Annie Garbutt to give them control over her money – and she was planning to spend her share on 'getting her hair and teeth done'.

He said: "She wanted her to sign her assets over so they could do what they wanted. The money was being siphoned off a bit at a time."

Hussey admitted the killing after three days of police questioning, following grilling about DNA evidence at her home.

She told officers: "All I remember is hitting her on the head with a spade. The voices were telling me to do it harder and harder. I didn't want to hurt my grandma. I loved her so much. She was like a mum to me. But I just wanted them to stop."

Hussey said the voices were telling her Mrs Garbutt was a bad person and to 'sort it out', to hit her harder and not to be scared. She added: "One of them sounds like my grandad."

And the court heard that when Hussey was on remand for killing her grandmother, she offered friend Phyllis Easton £1,000 to confirm that Hussey had told her she had been hearing voices.

In a recorded telephone conversation between Hussey and her mother, Hussey said: "I asked her (Phyllis] to do it because she said she would. Tell her I'll give her £1,000."

Her mother Maureen said: "I'll pass it on but I think she's frightened. If you are found to be lying on oath it's perjury."

Defence barrister Neil Davey put to Mrs Easton that Hussey had told her she had been hearing voices on a car journey the day before the killing, but she had not heard her because of the noise in the car.

But Mrs Easton said she had no recollection of hearing Hussey say it.

Hussey's brother Richard told the court she had asked him to say he had heard her making strange noises and talking to herself.

He said: "I didn't see anything strange to verify she was hearing voices."

During the taped conversation, Hussey told her mother she was worried about evidence from forensic physician Dr David Lord, who examined her after her arrest.

Dr Lord told the court Hussey, who was suffering from bipolar disorder, had told him for two weeks she had been hearing voices telling her to do bad things.

SYMPTOMS

But he said she did not have the symptoms a person who is hearing voices would get.

He said: "If a person is hearing voices they are distracted. They talk nonsense and don't answer the question that has been given. But she had none of that."

A video recording of a visit between Hussey and her mother the day Joanne was arrested was played in court.

The two could be heard whispering about Annie's money, and Maureen said: "I'm not bothered about your grandma, Jo, it's you and Josephine. Don't feel guilty for what you've done.