Grandmother who killed friend by pushing her down the stairs is jailed for 13 years

A grandmother who killed her friend by pushing her down the stairs has been jailed for 13 years.

Rosalind Gray, 55, shoved Linda Rainey, 60, after they fell out when a holiday to Marrakesh they had planned together was cancelled.

She had owed her friend £200 after a flight mixup caused the trip to be postponed, the court heard.

Gray had tried to cover up the killing along with 53-year-old Adrian Lawrence.

The court heard how an ambulance was called to Lawrence’s home address in South Market Road, Great Yarmouth, on 5 August last year to reports Rainey had fallen down some stairs.

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Linda, from Great Yarmouth, was taken to the James Paget Hospital with serious head injuries and later transferred to Addenbrooke Hospital where she died on 7 August.

Three days later police received a phone call from a woman who had been drinking with Linda, Gray and Lawrence at his home on the night Linda was injured.

The woman stated she saw Gray push Linda down the stairs following an argument about some money which was owed over a missed holiday.

Officers from the Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team launched a murder enquiry and it emerged Gray and Lawrence had initially told the witness to hide in a room while the ambulance service attended the address as she couldn’t be trusted to stay quiet.

They both later applied more pressure, even arranging a meeting between the three of them at a local pub, in order to discuss getting their story straight.

They threatened the witness to keep quiet but once she discovered Linda had died, she contacted police.

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During the investigation officers also discovered Lawrence had called Linda’s family while she was in hospital to inform them the police had been in attendance which was untrue.

Gray, of Marlborough Square in Great Yarmouth, was found guilty of manslaughter and conspiring to pervert the course of justice, following a trial at Norwich Crown Court last month.

Adrian Lawrence was found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Gray was given a 17-year extended sentence, to serve 13 years in prison, on Thursday, while Lawrence received a 38-month prison term.

Detective Chief Inspector Mike Brown said: “While Linda’s family have seen justice, nothing can make up for their loss and I can only hope today’s sentence will go some way in helping them during this difficult time.”