A neighbour of slain grandmother Maureen Shaughnes

A neighbour of slain grandmother Maureen Shaughnessy has
told an Old Bailey jury how he bravely tried to resuce her from her
blazing flat.

Mrs Shaughnessy, 55, was allegedly raped and strangled
by family friend William Forster, 33, a martial arts expert, who
then dumped her in the bath and torched the flat.

Neighbour Mr James Makings (corr) 44, spotted the fire
when he took his dog into his garden in Deal Street, Bethnal Green.

‘Black smoke was coming from the window and going up the
wall,’ he said.

‘I shouted out her name and ran to her front door.

When
I banged on the door it opened.

‘The flat was full of black smoke.

I continued calling
Maureen’s name and I crawled about halfway up the hallway, trying
to get into the bedroom.

‘The smoke was pretty thick.

Right down low you could
just see into the bedroom.

Otherwise it was full up with smoke.

‘
Mr Makings said he was beaten back by the fumes and
ran to his home to call an ambulance, then dashed back to the
flat to make another desperate rescue bid.

‘I tried to get back into the flat but the smoke was
much worse,’ he said.

When firefighters brought the blaze under control
they found the grandmother’s body laying face down in a filled
bath.

She had been raped, beaten, and throttled and the
killer had also caused injuries to her private parts.

The kindly grandmother had treated Forster ‘like a son’
but he was linked to the chilling attack when his palm print was
found on the bath, the court heard.

Later scientists linked him to the crime using DNA
fingerprinting and prosecutor Mr Nigel Sweeney said there was
only a one in ten million chance he was not the rapist.

But Forster, who is wheelchair bound after losing
part of his leg and an eye in a car smash a week after the
murder, told police he was with his wife and family when
Mrs Shaughnessy died.

Forster of Johnson House, Roberta Street, Bethnal
Green denies murder on December 27.

The trial continues.

ENDS