A frail pensioner was tied up with her own shoelaces and clothing and left to die by two students who ransacked her home, a court heard.

Hilda Tizard, 88, who lived alone in

sheltered accommodation in Bognor Regis, tried in vain to fight off her attackers, who left the flat with £33 pension money.

Patrick Rattigan, 22, of Canada Grove, Bognor, and Terence Wyatt, 28, of South Terrace, Littlehampton, then students at Chichester College, are both accused of her murder.

Timothy Langdale QC, prosecuting at Lewes Crown Court, said Mrs Tizard's body was found by the flats warden, covered with pillows.

Dispute

He said there was no dispute that

Rattigan and Wyatt burgled the flat at The Poynings, Victoria Drive.

But there was dispute among the two defendants as to who was responsible.

"Mr Langdale added: "Each says 'it was not me. It was the other one'."

Rattigan and Wyatt both deny murder between December 15-18 last year.

Mr Langdale said Mrs Tizard, a widow, lived alone and kept herself to herself.

She was a lay preacher at her local church and in good health for her age.

He said the two defendants entered her flat some time after 11.30 pm on December 16 through an open window.

Mr Langdale added: "Only three people know exactly what happened. These two who broke in and raided the flat and Mrs Tizard, who died."

He said there was evidence she had been pushed about and that she resisted her attackers.

She was found the following day lying on the floor with a ligature tied round her neck. The cause of death was asphyxiation, according to the pathologist. There was also evidence that she may have been smothered by the cushions placed over her body.

Cash amounting to £33 from her pension was stolen from the flat, along with other items, some of which were discarded in nearby gardens.

Mr Langdale said a T-shirt or vest type garment had been tied round Mrs Tizard's neck, her body had been trussed up and her wrists and ankles had been tied up with brown shoelaces taken from her shoes in the flat.

The court heard Mrs Tizard had bruises and abrasions on her arms and legs.

The two men had been watching football in the nearby Railway Emporium pub on the evening prior to the attack.

They had then gone to a flat in Canada Grove where a friend of Rattigan and Wyatt lived, a girl called Jamie Kirk.

At that flat there was a fight between the two defendants.

Video cameras in Bognor Regis in the early hours of the morning

spotted Rattigan making a call from a telephone box telling police that two men had been seen running away from the sheltered accommodation at The Poynings.

The trial continues.

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