A DAUGHTER has appeared in court accused of murdering her mother who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

Margaret Sims, 70, was staying at the home of her youngest daughter on the night she died.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard Mrs Sims, from Clacton, was sharing a sofa bed with her other daughter, Keeley Barnard, 52, who is accused of her murder.

Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, told the jury Barnard strangled her mother in a fit of “rage and frustration”, before telling her sister and brother-in-law she had suddenly died.

Pathologist Dr Virginia Fitzpatrick-Swallow found several abrasion wounds around Mrs Sims’ face and neck, consistent with fingernail marks.

She recorded the cause of death as compression to the neck caused by strangulation.

Barnard, of Hopkins Mead, Chelmsford, was arrested following the results of the post mortem examination but denies murdering her mother.

The court heard during the trial Mrs Sims’ health had been in decline, which had caused “considerable” anguish to her family.

After her body was found at around 11.45pm, Donald Kilpatrick, Mrs Sims’ son-in-law, described to a999 operator how he was attempting to perform CPR.

“My mother-in-law just passed away,” he said.

“I went to the bedroom, she has passed away in her sleep.

“I am an advanced first aider, she is not breathing, not responsive.

“She is a long-time Alzheimer’s sufferer, I had gone in to check on her.

“I have got her two daughters here next to me.”

The operator can be heard asking Mr Kilpatrick to move Mrs Sims onto the floor in order to carry out more effective resuscitation efforts.

“No, there’s no point trying resuscitation,” said Mr Kilpatrick.

“My wife is looking at her mother who is dead, can you understand why I am a little bit hysterical?

“At this moment in time I am trying CPR on my mother-in-law, I am trying to do it one handed.”

Mr Kilpatrick then handed the phone to his sister-in-law, the accused Barnard, who said she had awoken to find a pillow over her mother’s face.

“I don’t think there’s any chance of resuscitation - I have seen a dead body before,” she said to the operator.

“My mum just had a pillow over her face, she has had Alzheimer’s.

She added: “I don’t think you can try resuscitation, it is, like, catastrophic here.

“My sister is really distressed, I am not in a good place either.”

Ambulance service staff arrived at the house, in Stanford-le-Hope, at around 12.02am on Sunday, August 20.

Tobias Langley, an emergency medical technician with the East of England Ambulance Service, described how a team worked to try to save Mrs Sims for 20 minutes.

When he entered the address a paramedic was already trying to revive her.

He said: “Mrs Sims was placed on the floor in order to carry out CPR.

“The pressure of doing CPR caused her ribs to break, she was quite frail - it is quite common when people do not have a lot of weight behind them.

“It is an unavoidable side effect of CPR.”

As Mr Langley completed the necessary paperwork following the attempts to save Mrs Sims, he heard a conversation between Mr Kilpatrick and Barnard.

“They were talking to one another about what happened,” he said.

“She said she had gone to bed with Mrs Sims.

“She said she was still breathing and then pulled a pillow over her face.

“She gasped, or words to that effect, and pulled a pillow over her face.”

n The trial continues.