A WOMAN who bludgeoned her frail father to death is to appeal against her life sentence.

When Ann-Marie Pyle was sentenced for killing her 77-year-old father, Bill, it was ruled that she would not be considered for parole until she had served at least three years.

But Pyle, who was said to have been mentally ill at the time of the killing, now claims to have kicked the cannabis addiction that led to her violent rage.

The 42-year-old spinster, from Eldon Lane, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, faces a lengthy stay behind bars unless she can prove she is fit enough to be released into society in three years time.

Her defence team claims that, because she has recovered from her psychotic condition, she should have been given a sentence allowing her to be released on a specific date.

Pyle, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reasons of diminished responsibility, at her trial at Teesside Crown Court in August last year, had battled a long addiction to cannabis before she attacked her father.

Judge Mr Justice Holland was told that she developed acute paranoid psychosis because of the addiction.

The court was told how years of abusing the drug finally led to her subjecting Mr Pyle to 85 stab wounds when she attacked him using a knife, poker and walking stick at his home in Stanley Street, Close House, near Bishop Auckland. She then set fire to the house.

Mr Pyle was a well-liked and much respected member of the Close House community and the death left villagers shocked.

After the trial, Mr Pyle's neighbour, Carol Sowerby, told The Northern Echo how his daughter had subjected him to a torrent of abuse over the years.

She said she hoped Pyle would never be released into the community again.

Pyle's defending solicitor, Andrew Clinton, yesterday confirmed that his client had filed an appeal against her sentence and was waiting for a date when her case would be heard at the Court of Appeal, in London, early next year.