A lodger killed his 83-year-old landlady and "destroyed" her body on a bonfire to fake her disappearance so he could continue living in her house, a court has heard.
Allan Scott, 42, had been homeless before he met Winifred Patricia Holland, known as Pat, who took pity on him and "offered a roof over his head".
Mrs Holland allowed him to lodge with her at her home on Lowestoft Road, Gorleston.
But Norwich Crown Court heard Scott became aggressive and violent towards her in the months before her death, in July 2021.
Mrs Holland had told neighbours and family she "wanted him out of her home" but Scott was "determined to stay".
The court heard the victim's will, which would have allowed Scott to stay in her home for up to three years after her death, was changed in the weeks before she died.
The new terms meant Scott, who has gone on trial accused of her murder, would have been liable for eviction if she died, prompting him to try and burn her body on a bonfire so he could "say that she had gone missing".
David Spens KC, opening the prosecution case on Tuesday (February 21), said it was a "rare case of murder as the victim's body was essentially destroyed on the bonfire for that purpose - that it would be destroyed".
He told the jury panel of eight men and six women they might find it a "shocking case".
Mr Spens said: "When the police found her burnt and charred body there was so little of it left it was not possible to discover the cause of death."
The prosecutor said a "bone fragment" was found in a sieve near to the fire pit, while "further bone fragments were recovered from the firepit itself".
In total, eight fragments of burnt or charred bone were recovered and were found to belong to Mrs Holland, who had been reported missing by her family having last been seen alive on the evening of July 24, 2021.
Mr Spens said the "destruction of remains" meant it was not possible to establish the cause or circumstances of her death.
He said it was the crown's case that Scott had "violently attacked her" sometime between July 24 and July 25.
Scott then "burnt her body on the bonfire in the back garden in his attempt to remove all traces of her so he could say that she had gone missing, knowing full well that the little remains of her were on the fire he had set light to in the back garden".
Mr Spens said when interviewed by police Scott "put forward no explanation for her death" or how her body had come to be burned.
He said Scott has "lied, and lied and lied again" to police about what happened to Mrs Holland who he had been "violent and aggressive" towards.
The prosecutor said Scott, who the jury have been told suffers from a mental health condition, has since admitted responsibility for burning her body and denying a proper burial but denies murder.
He said Mrs Holland had lost two of her sons, with one dying in December 2019.
She got to know Scott fairly shortly after that and by March 2020 he had moved in to her home.
Mr Spens said she was a "very charitable woman" who was involved with people who were "down on their luck" or homeless.
Mrs Holland, who had become unstable on her feet and used a walking frame, was described by friends and neighbours as "having a heart of gold" and "always happy".
Scott, of no fixed address, but formerly of Lowestoft Road, Gorleston, denies murder.
The trial continues.
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