Jury taken to scene of grandmother's killing (From Daily Echo)

Jury taken to scene of Georgina Edmonds' killing in Brambridge

10:40am Friday 2nd December 2011 in Brambridge Murder News By Jenny Makin, Assistant News Editor

IT is the exact spot where a Hampshire grandmother’s battered body was found in a pool of blood.

Jurors yesterday were shown around the kitchen and home of Georgina Edmonds to see for themselves where prosecutors claim she was tortured then bludgeoned to death with a marble rolling pin by Matthew Hamlen.

It was the first in a series of key locations they visited concerning the 77-year-old’s murder and was designed to help them picture what the prosecution alleged took place on January 11, 2008.

They arrived at Fig Tree Cottage in Kiln Lane on board a coach, accompanied by court ushers, the prosecution and defence barristers and judge Mr Justice David Clarke.

Drivers in Kiln Lane were stopped in their cars and walkers diverted as jurors walked along the towpath on the eastern side of the River Itchen to see where Mrs Edmonds’ mobile phone was found dumped in undergrowth.

The prosecution claim that cell site evidence puts Hamlen in the location on the afternoon of the killing and say it was he who stole the phone, turning it on and off before removing the SIM card and battery from the back.

The jury visit moved on to the Tesco garage in Twyford Road, Eastleigh, where they examined the cashpoint where it is alleged that Hamlen attempted to withdraw £200 from the 77-year-old grandmother’s account using her card hours after her death.

CCTV from the store shows a man in a high visibility jacket approaching the machine and covering his face from view.

The seven women and five men were then driven along the route it is claimed Hamlen took back to his then home at The Crescent in Eastleigh.

Hamlen, 33, of Hamilton Road, Bishopstoke, denies murder.

Proceeding.