HE went out to kill, and picked an 85-year-old grandmother simply because her patio door was open.

That was the chilling tale told to a jury about how alleged murderer Jamie Boult ended up raining blows on to the pensioner’s head after walking into her home off the street.

Delia Hughes had gone into the bedroom of her ground floor waterside apartment in Ocean Village, Southampton, after hearing a noise and was knocked to the ground as a heavy lump hammer was smashed onto her head from behind, Winchester Crown Court heard.

Boult, 25, had picked her home at random on the morning of Saturday August 18 last year, intending to “kill whoever was in there” jurors were told by prosecutor William Mousley QC.

The court heard how Boult was a “social recluse” who lived in his bedroom at his mother’s home in Chessel Crescent, Bitterne, and barely interacted with any other human being including his own mother who he didn’t get on with.

Only days before, on August 14, he had broken into his next-door neighbour’s home by smashing a window.

He was armed with an axe from his garden shed, and said he would have used it if anyone was in.

On the morning of the killing, Boult said he left home carrying a backpack containing a lump hammer, walked around two and a half miles, crossing the Itchen Bridge and making his way through Ocean Village until he came across Delia’s home with her patio doors open facing the road.

He told police how he walked in, tripping over the blinds as he did so and making a noise, so he hid behind the bedroom door.

When the great grandmother walked in he struck from behind her “bringing the hammer down hard from above his head, saying nothing” said Mr Mousley.

He told jurors: “After he had hit her once and she had fallen, he hit her again on the top/front of her head. She did not try to defend herself. He was trying to kill her.”

The court was told how Boult waited for a few seconds to see if anyone else came in, before going through Delia’s jewellery box which was left upturned on her bed, taking bracelets and necklaces which were later recovered from his home.

He then went into her kitchen, took a carton of orange juice to drink, went back to the bedroom, drew the blinds and attempted to close the curtains before leaving and walking home.

Jurors heard how Delia’s body was found that evening by her daughter Beryl and son-in-law John who had gone to her home because they couldn’t raise her by phone.

They found her sitting with her back to a wall, slumped forward with her head on her chest and one leg outstretched. She had a large gash to her head, blood on her arm and she was cold and stiff. There was blood spattered on the walls.

The court was told how the couple called 999 and paramedic Paul Greening was first on the scene. He found Delia had a hole in her head the size of a 50p piece and a second smaller hole close by.

A post-mortem examination found she had died from a “blunt force injury” and had suffered a series of “overwhelmingly heavy blows to the top of the head”.

She had been hit at least eight times and her skull was broken and brain severely damaged. Delia had also sustained serious injury to her left hand, most likely caused as she tried to defend herself, the court was told.

It was almost a month before Boult was arrested for the killing, after a major police hunt that saw images of him captured on CCTV cameras across Southampton, repeatedly shown in the media.

The court was told how he had gone to Bitterne police station and sat drinking a bottle of wine on the steps before going into the station car park where he smashed a squad car window.

Officers came out and found him sat on the ground near to a bin, holding a pair of scissors against his forearm.

He told officers he wanted to speak to whoever was in charge adding “I want to talk about the Delia Hughes murder”, Mr Mousley said.

Asked if it was playing on his mind and if he was the man in the CCTV footage, he said yes.

Mr Mousley added: “After his arrest, when he admitted the killing, he told the police that his intention had been to kill someone that day and his choice of victim was simply because he was in the area where Delia Hughes lived and he took advantage of the fact that the patio doors to her flat had been open.”

Jamie Boult denies murder. The case continues.