A post-mortem has revealed the extent of the injuries to an alleged murder victim who died when her daughter stabbed her in the back.

Janet Mason, who was stabbed by her daughter Jessica Crane, died from a stab wound to the back, a post-mortem revealed.

Crane, 50, of Hillside Close, Worcester, accepts stabbing her mother but denies murder following the fatal attack at her grandmother's home in Green Lane, Worcester, on March 9 last year.

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* Murder suspect told to kneel by officers

The 69-year-old victim was found bleeding heavily from the wound and slumped over the arm of an armchair at the address. It was Crane who called 999. The defendant, her hands covered in blood, was told to kneel on the pavement as the first officers arrived on scene.

Worcester News:

The jury were reassured that they would not have to see photos of Mrs Mason's body, the prosecution instead relying on computer generated images to illustrate the injuries.

Richard Atkins QC told the jury yesterday (Monday): "A post-mortem examination was conducted on the body of Janet Mason. The cause of death was the stab wound to the back. You will hear from the pathologist who conducted the examination. Let me just set your minds at rest. You will not have to look at or see any pictures of Janet Mason’s body. You will see computer generated images showing the injuries caused to Janet Mason."

He added: "The knife had entered Janet Mason’s body just to the right of the spinal column."

The court heard the knife went through a rib and entered a lung before carrying on through to the heart.

He added: "The wound track was around 20.5cm in length. The wound track passed forwards and slightly downwards and slightly leftwards.

"The damage caused by the knife would have caused immediate very heavy bleeding. The force required to inflict the damage, in particular to the bony rib, would have been as the pathologist described it, at the “severe end of the spectrum”. This was not a gentle stab. This required considerable force.

"No defensive injuries were found on the victim. Sometimes pathologists see injuries to a victim’s hands or arms where they have tried to fight off an assailant or deflect a blow. There were none on Mrs Mason. That was almost certainly because she did not see this attack coming. She was stabbed in the back. She was unarmed and defenceless."

The trial continues.