No verdict on dressmaker's death

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/london/6512825.stm

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An Old Bailey jury has failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a woman accused of killing her 100-year-old aunt, a former dressmaker to the Queen.

Susan Turner, 47, was accused of setting fire to the family business below Violet Durling's flat in Newham, east London, in February 2006.

She was arrested in August after returning to Britain from Europe.

Judge Elgan Edwards said Miss Durling was murdered but there was no direct evidence that Mrs Turner did it.

Mrs Turner was accused of starting the blaze after unsuccessfully trying to have her aunt's will changed to make her the sole heir to the £300,000 property.

The court heard that the mother-of-two, of Barkingside, east London - who denied murdering her aunt - was adopted and felt badly treated financially by the family.

She wept as she told the jury: "I loved my aunt, I would never have hurt my aunt.

"All I have ever done was try to protect her, that's all."