A woman accused of murdering her friend by pushing her down a flight of stairs had sent her a number of messages in the weeks before her death calling her a “nasty old troll”, a court has heard.
Linda Rainey, 60, died on August 7 last year, two days after she was found at the bottom of the stairs at an address on South Market Road, Great Yarmouth, on August 5, 2019.
Rosalind Gray, 56, of Marlborough Square, Yarmouth, has gone on trial having denied murder.
She has also denied a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice between August 5 and August 12 last year, along with her co-defendant Adrian Lawrence, 54, of South Market Road, Yarmouth.
Norwich Crown Court has heard Gray and Ms Rainey fell out after a holiday to Marrakech was cancelled, leaving Gray owing Ms Rainey £200.
The fall out resulted in an exchange of a series of messages between the pair in which Ms Rainey asked for her money back but was rebuked by Gray.
The jury of seven women and five men were on Thursday (July 23) given details of some of the messages exchanged between the two in the months before Ms Rainey’s death.
Claire Howell, prosecuting at the case alongside Andrew Jackson, said there was a total of 5,493 text messages between Gray and Ms Rainey between December 24, 2018, and July 31, 2019.
They had attempted to go away to Morocco in May but missed the flight, although they had been trying to arrange another holiday.
Miss Howell said Gray had messaged Ms Rainey that it would be about £750 for her (Gray) and £550 for Ms Rainey as she said she owed Ms Rainey £200.
But there appears to have been an argument between the two and following no communication between them for about a month, from June 25 until July 24, last year, there were further messages in which Gray called Ms Rainey a “nasty old bag”.
The jury was told that at 10.11pm on July 30 Gray messaged Ms Rainey describing her as “vile” and a “nasty old troll” and urging her to “enjoy your lonely life”.
Ms Rainey replied stating that Gray owed her £200 and at 12.02am on July 31 last year, in the last message between them, said “come on sweet, bring it on”.
The trial continues.
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