The jury trying the case of a woman accused of smothering her grandmother to death today retired to consider its verdict.

Julie Kenyon, 46, is accused of murdering 89-year-old Irene Waters at the home they shared in Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1996.

Newcastle Crown Court has heard a transcript of Kenyon admitting to the killing in a conversation recorded by her sister in a pub in the town five years later.

Kenyon has told the court the tape was an accurate record of what was said but claimed she had only said it in a bid to end years of abuse and accusations following the death, which had led her to suffer from psychological problems.