A jury has been sworn in to try the case of a woman accused of murdering a Great Yarmouth grandmother who was found at the bottom of a flight of stairs with head injuries.

Linda Rainey, 60, died on Wednesday, August 7 2019, two days after she was found at the bottom of the stairs at an address on South Market Road, Yarmouth, on August 5 last year.

She was taken to Addenbrookes’s Hospital in Cambridge with head injuries, but later died.

Rosalind Gray, 56, of Marlborough Square, has denied murder and appeared at Norwich Crown Court today (July 21) for the start of her trial.

She has also denied a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justce between August 5 and August 12 last year - as has co-defendant Adrian Lawrence, 54, of South Market Road, Yarmouth.

A jury of seven women and five men were sworn in before the start of the trial.

The trial is only the second to take place at the city’s crown court since the coronavirus lockdown and is operating with the judge, jury and defendants in one courtroom and media and other interested parties watching proceedings via videolink from another court.

Judge Stephen Holt told the jurors that measures had been taken to make it as safe as possible.

“It is so important you feel confident about that.”

The trial is expected to take about two weeks, but might go into a third week.