Oxford hotelier Jeremy Mogford and sister on trial for murdering 100-year-old mother
Jeremy Mogford, 79, and Sarah Pickering, 72, deny murdering their mother Pamela with liquid morphine in Buckinghamshire in 2022. A carer told Oxford Crown Court the elderly woman was "in agony" the night before she died.
Carer recalls 100-year-old's final hours as siblings deny murder
A carer testified at Oxford Crown Court that Pamela Mogford, 100, was "in agony" the night before she died, as the trial of her son Jeremy Mogford and daughter Sarah Pickering continued on Wednesday, bbc.co.uk reports.
Mogford, 79, a well-known Oxford restaurateur and hotelier, and Pickering, 72, deny murdering their mother at her home in Bledlow Ridge, Buckinghamshire. Pamela Mogford died at approximately 00:30 GMT on 15 February 2022.
The prosecution alleges the pair gave Mrs Mogford the equivalent of "at least four times" the morphine dose her GP had administered that evening, in order to "speed up" her death. The siblings accept giving her Oramorph after the GP had left but deny any intention to hasten her dying, saying they acted because she was in pain.
Carer's account
Agnes Pawlikowska, the carer looking after Mrs Mogford in her final days, told the court her patient's condition had grown "worse and worse" each day. On 14 February, she called an ambulance because Mrs Mogford appeared to be "in another dimension" — unable to speak properly or stand.
Pawlikowska said a paramedic told her at the time that the patient could be dead within hours or days. She noted in her records that the GP, who had visited Mrs Mogford three times that day and administered morphine injections on two of those visits, had left instructions for the patient to be kept comfortable and pain-free — and that "Pamela was lying on the bed under morphine in agony."
When asked whether she would have administered morphine herself that night "out of pity", Pawlikowska said: "Yes, I would." She added, however, that she did not recall giving Mrs Mogford any morphine and confirmed she would "always" record any medication she administered in her notes.
Pawlikowska also told the court she believed Mogford was his mother's favourite child. She said he visited "very often" and called on the phone "every day", and that Mrs Mogford would "chirp up" whenever he came or rang.
Paramedic evidence
David Worsfold, a paramedic who assessed Mrs Mogford that evening, told jurors it was clear she was in pain and that he would have given her morphine himself had any been available in the ambulance. He said he might have administered a small dose of Oramorph had he known it was in the house.
Worsfold believed Mrs Mogford had suffered an aortic aneurysm and recommended she go to hospital, which she declined. When he outlined the risks to her — "the main one being death" — she replied: "Good." The court heard she was recorded as "EOL", a designation referring to end-of-life care.
Texts and alternative charge
Jurors heard that the siblings were arrested after texts sent by Pickering on the evening of their mother's death were discovered, including the words "I am actually killing her." Pickering's barrister, Benjamin Newton KC, previously told the jury those messages amounted to "gallows humour to cope with life's difficulties."
In a separate text exchange, Pickering wrote: "Never killed anyone before, but I have often thought about it. I shall wait until Foyle is over then I can go to my grave knowing I have topped someone. It's certainly on my bucket list."
The siblings also face an alternative charge of attempted murder.
Background
Mogford founded the Browns Brasserie chain in 1973, opening the first restaurant in Brighton with then-business partner John Mayhew. He sold the Browns group — which had a significant presence in university towns including Oxford and Cambridge — to Bass Brewery for £35m in 1996. He subsequently established several independent hotels and restaurants in Oxford, among them the Old Bank Hotel, the Old Parsonage Hotel, Quod Restaurant, Parsonage Grill and Gee's Restaurant.
The trial continues.
Source: Google News UK — Crime (en)