Woman beat her grandmother to death with a spade to prevent her inheritance being spent on care bills

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Frail and suffering from Alzheimer's disease, 76-year-old widow Annie Garbutt desperately needed the support of her family.

Instead, however, her granddaughter beat her to death with a spade when she feared the old lady's savings would all be spent on care.

Joanne Hussey, 33, had already used some of Mrs Garbutt's cash to pay for cosmetic work on her teeth and hair.

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Alzheimer's sufferer Annie Garbutt was mudered by her own granddaughter with a spade. Her skull was shattered in the attack and her breast bone and ribs broken

But when the social services decided Mrs Garbutt needed to go into a residential home Hussey was worried she would lose the rest of her inheritance.

Yesterday the granddaughter was facing a life sentence after being convicted of murder at Leeds Crown Court. The jury rejected her claim that voices in her head told her to attack Mrs Garbutt.

A week before the murder last May, the Royal Mail worker texted a male colleague and former boyfriend with the words: "Got to Grandma's early and found her dead. Police have been and she has been taken away. Head totally done in. In need of a friend."

At that stage Mrs Garbutt was alive and well. But the text was an accurate account of what was to follow.

Prosecutor James Goss, QC, said Hussey armed herself with a spade from her home and drove to her grandmother's.

She attacked her in bed, raining blows on her head and chest, while sitting astride the helpless pensioner.

Her skull was shattered and her breast bone and ribs broken.

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Evil Joanne Hussey murdered her grandmother after social services said the pensioner needed to go into a residential home. A jury found her guilty of murder after an hour's deliberation

Hussey then drove home, had a bath and attempted to clean the murder weapon. She had disposed of her bloody clothes and shoes.

She then returned the next day and claimed that she had stumbled on Mrs Garbutt. An ambulance and the police were called.

Forensic experts later found traces of Mrs Garbutt's blood on the spade and in Hussey's bath.

She was arrested and, realising the overwhelming evidence against her, changed her story, claiming she was suffering from a mental illness.

Mr Goss said: "The defendant told how she had been hearing voices in her head, telling her to get rid of bad people. They had told her to get rid of grandma."

The jury agreed with the prosecution it was a cynical attempt to escape the full consequences of a murder conviction and found her guilty after one hour's deliberation.

Greed was the motive. Mrs Garbutt owned her £130,000 two-bedroom cottage in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, and had lived there alone since her husband's death in 1996.

She also had large sums in savings accounts - an amount Hussey believed was more than £100,000.

Her only daughter Maureen, 55, had been given power of attorney over her affairs and the court heard she had already transferred "substantial sums" from the pensioner's savings.

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Annie's two-bedroom cottage in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, where she was murdered in her bed by her granddaughter

Hussey told a friend she had also taken £15,000 to £20,000 from the accounts and wanted to spend some of it on having her teeth and hair cosmetically improved.

Her former partner, Gary Punchon, said Hussey told her "it would be ideal if she (Mrs Garbutt) just fell down the stairs".

Sentencing was adjourned for psychiatric reports but Hussey was warned to expect a life sentence.

Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan, who led the inquiry, said it was a "particularly brutal and callous" crime, motivated by greed.

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