Murder accused told family he was looking after woman before changing story, court told
A man accused of killing a woman at first told her family he was looking after her before changing his story.
The badly burned body of Wolverhampton mother-of-one Jomaa Jerrare was found in a lay-by by officers investigating reports of a suspicious fire in Bridgnorth Road, near Perton, on August 9, 2021.
Clive O’Connor is accused of murdering the 52-year-old before dumping her body and setting it alight. She had not been seen for several weeks before the discovery.
Giving evidence in the witness box at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court, the victim's mother Sylvia Ricketts said she last saw her daughter on May 16 after she had been discharged from New Cross Hospital.
At times wiping away tears, she told the jury that up until then Miss Jerrare, an addict who lived a "couple of miles away", visited her regularly and that she gave her meals and money to buy drugs.
