Norfolk murder suspect burned body but didn't kill, jury told

Allan Scott, 42, is on trial for the murder of Patricia Holland who had allowed him to stay at her home on Lowestoft Road, Gorleston.

Norwich Crown Court has been told Scott, who had been homeless, burnt her in the back garden in an attempt to fake the 83-year-old’s disappearance so he could continue living there.

Giving evidence on Thursday (March 16) Scott admitted burning Mrs Holland's body on a bonfire but insisted he had not caused her death.

Scott told Karim Khalil KC, defending,  he was "in a certain amount of chaos" at the time.

When asked if she was "alive or dead" when he burned her body Scott said: "She was dead."

Mr Khalil asked if he had caused her death, but he insisted he had not.

Scott said he first realised Mrs Holland was dead after finding her in the hall at about 5am on July 26 2012.

It was the morning after Scott had been told to leave by police who were called by Mrs Holland following an argument.

Scott said he returned but she "didn't want him in the house" and he "stayed in the garden" where he "lit the fire to keep the rats away and keep warm".

He said Mrs Holland later "relented" allowing him into the property before she gave him "a dressing down" about the previous night.

Scott said he went to bed and had not seen or heard anything prior to finding Mrs Holland.

He said he was in a "cataclysm" after finding her "face down on the floor."

Scott thought she had "bitten her tongue or something" as she had blood down her and was unable to find a pulse nor could he hear her heart beating.

He said he was in "a panic" and having become "covered" in her blood was now "involved in it".

Mr Khalil asked why he did not call the police.

He said he "didn't have a good relationship with the police" with whom he had a "long history of distrust".

He was asked whether he thought he might be blamed and said it was "almost inevitable".

Scott said he saw the situation as some kind of "divine punishment for me and for the way I had lived my life".

He "cut the carpet" she was on and moved her outside into the garden and "covered her up with whatever I could find".

Scott had "somehow come to the decision to try and hide things" and put her body on the fire that had already been lit.

At one point Scott said he "heard monkeys outside and I was talking to the monkeys".

Scott told the jury that as well as talking to the teddy bear monkeys he was "having an argument with them" and threw bits from the fire, including fragments of Mrs Holland's bones, over fences.

He said at the time "I was having a crisis" and had committed "a massive act of harm against myself".

Scott admitted claims Mrs Holland had gone to meet a friend earlier in the day and would be back later were untrue. 

Mr Khalil asked why he had not told police what he had done but said he was in a "state of extreme panic".

Scott said: "I just stayed in the house and waited for the inevitable."

He acknowledged that he had "acted in a deplorable way".

Scott, of no fixed address, but formerly of Lowestoft Road, Gorleston, denies murder.

The trial is continuing with 11 jurors after one who has come down with Covid was discharged.