A MAN accused of murdering a Hampshire grandmother in her home has this morning been found guilty of burgling a home armed with an axe in the days before the killing.

Jurors returned a unanimous guilty verdict against Jamie Boult for breaking in to his neighbours home which he then ransacked.

The break in happened on August 14 last year, four days before 85-year-old Delia Hughes was brutally killed in her home in Atlantic Close, Ocean Village.

Boult used the axe to smash a back window and let himself in to the house in Chessel Crescent, Bitterne, taking a knife from the kitchen which he left on the bed.

The young couple who lived there had gone out for the day and returned to find beer cans and a wine bottle on the floor, and the TV turned upside down.

Chillingly, the gas had been turned on by Boult who admitted to police that he would have used the axe to hurt or even kill someone if they had disturbed him.

Jurors returned their verdict at 11am but have not been able to reach a unanimous verdict in relation to the charge of murder of Delia.

The judge, Mr Justice Bean, has now instructed the six men and women to continue their deliberations in the hope that at least ten of them can agree on a verdict.

Delia was found dead on Saturday August 18 last year having suffered at least eight blows to her head which Boult rained down with a lump hammer.

Boult, of Chessel Crescent, denies murder but admits killing the pensioner on the grounds of diminished responsibility claiming he was not of sound mind at the time.

Proceeding