A TEENAGE girl accused of plotting to murder a pensioner told police a pack of lies because she “thought it would backfire” on her if she admitted the truth, a court heard.

The 16-year-old said she was “horrible” to officers after being arrested following a savage attack on her boyfriend’s 89-year-old grandfather – and said she should be “punished”

for the role she played that night.

However, she denied there had ever been a family plan to kill the grandfather-of-three, but instead said she had gone with her boyfriend and his family simply to steal his pension.

The girl told jurors at Winchester Crown Court how she had a cannabis addiction and didn’t remember parts of what happened on the night of the assault because she “wasn’t sober”.

However she did recall how she gathered up blood-soaked bags from the elderly man’s garden in a village near Winchester in the aftermath of the attack on the evening of November 15 last year and later dumped them and a bloodied car mat in a field.

The teenager is accused alongside the victim’s daughter, grandson and two granddaughters of conspiring to kill the pensioner, who suffers from dementia, in a bid to get their hands on any inheritance early.

The court has heard how his and his 87-year-old wife’s assets were worth more than £400,000.

Giving evidence in her own defence, the girl was asked to explain in her own words why she was not guilty and said: “I have never had a violent background and I would never be violent to anybody. I would not gain anything from this. I would not harm someone, end of story. It’s madness.”

Asked about the alleged plan to murder, she said; “I don’t think it was a plan to kill, personally.

I have lived with these people for about three-and-ahalf months and I just don’t think either one of them would be capable of that. I knew they were wrong to steal off him but to me, they loved him.”

A 49-year-old woman, her daughters aged 14 and 16, her 19-year-old son and his 16- year-old girlfriend – all from Eastleigh – deny charges of conspiracy to murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

None of the defendants or the victim can be named for legal reasons.

Proceeding