A PENSIONER has denied murdering a retired postmistress who was found with her throat slit at home in 2013.
Una Crown, 86, was discovered in a pool of blood by family members at her bungalow in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
The retired postmistress had been knifed in the neck and chest and her clothes were set alight in a bid to disguise her injuries.
David Newton, 69, today appeared at Cambridge Crown Court where he denied murdering the widow.
He was remanded into custody ahead of a provisional trial on January 13 next year.
Una was last seen alive two days before the January 2013 killing when she went shopping.
Police initially believed Una had died from a heart attack when she accidentally set herself alight when trying to extinguish a fire from a faulty hob ring.
Officers who attended the horror scene also believed the marks on her throat were caused by the pressure from a scarf as her body hit the floor.
But an inquest into Una’s death in 2015 heard Cambridgeshire Police missed “clear signs” of her murder during the initial investigation.
The force later apologised and launched a murder probe after a post-mortem revealed she had died from stab wounds.
The force said they believed the widow knew her killer as they appealed for information in January.
The charity Crimestoppers also put up a £20,000 reward in an attempt to catch the killer.
