Man charged with killing pensioner

A machine operator accused of raping an elderly woman and battering her to death in her bungalow was appearing in court today.

Jason Thomas Ward, 22, of Bentinck Street, Mansfield, Notts, was remanded in custody at a previous hearing and faces charges of murder, rape and attempted rape.

He is alleged to have first tried to sexually assault Gladys Godfrey in her Mansfield home in April 2001 and to have returned to rape and kill the 87-year-old last September.

Ms Godfrey's body was discovered in her bungalow in Devon Drive, on the Ladybrook Estate in Mansfield in the early hours of September 8 by an elderly man who regularly visited her.

She lived alone and had been last seen by her best friend at about 7.40pm the previous day.

Ward was appearing at Nottingham Crown Court this morning.