The daughter of a woman found battered to death in her home sent her a Christmas card days before her body was found.
A jury at Lewes Crown Court heard police forensic experts found the card in a pile of unopened mail in Charmaine Dempsey's ground floor flat in Ivory Walk, Bewbush, Crawley.
The 48-year-old was found dead in December and it is alleged she suffered fatal injuries when she was beaten up a month earlier.
Alex Gallacher, 33, and Stephen Johnstone, 26, have both denied murder.
The jury has heard Gallacher's girlfriend Tracey Gazzard, 29, has admitted manslaughter on the grounds she assaulted the dead woman but did not intend to kill her.
All four were heavy drinkers and the prosecution alleges Ms Dempsey was killed on November 27 following a drunken fight.
In the following weeks, her daughter Emma Dempsey sent the Christmas card but grew increasingly concerned about her whereabouts.
Just a few days later, Emma discovered the body when a friend of her mother used her spare set of keys to open the flat.
The trial continues.
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