Pensioner's death was '˜attention seeking plot'

Bed-bound Irene Herring, 85, suffocated in her bed at Ancaster Court, Hastings Road, when Rebecca Reasbeck’s bizarre attention-seeking plot went wrong, it was claimed.

She was rescued from the third-floor room by firefighters and rushed to the Conquest Hospital in St Leonards, but died the next day with her devastated husband, David, by her side.

Baby-faced Reasbeck, 20, was working in the home’s laundry room two floors down on the morning of the fire in February 2009.

She denies murder and manslaughter.

Prosecuting, Anthony Haycroft told Lewes Crown Court: “The defendant deliberately set fire to Irene’s bedroom in a nursing home where she lived, in two separate places. She pretended she could smell smoke downstairs from the place where the fire was lit and she raised the alarm.

“She did this so she could act the heroine, but unfortunately the flames got out of control, as well as the heat, and Irene died as a result.”

The court heard Reasbeck, then 18, was seen running from the direction of Mrs Herring’s room, number 47, by nurses at the Bupa home.

She told them she had run upstairs after smelling burning from the laundry room.

However, the jury was told she must have been lying because the door to Mrs Herring’s room was sealed, preventing smoke from escaping.

Mr Haycroft said: “If it’s a lie - and the Crown say it is a lie - that she could smell smoke two floors down, it shows that she had no reason to be on the top floor at the time Mrs George and her assistants saw her. The crown say this is evidence of her guilt.”

Care assistant Steven Walker saw Reasbeck rush back to Mrs Herring’s room in a panic after the alarm sounded.

Mr Haycroft said: “He saw her go to room 47. She was saying things like ‘Oh my God’. She was panicked.

“The defendant grabbed the door handle to room 47. Steve Walker told her not to open the door, in accordance with his training.

“Having put her hand on the door handle, she then put the palm of her hands against the door and opened it. She was met with black smoke.

“The defendant kept saying she had to get Irene out. Steve said they had to get help instead. Then he lost sight of her.”

Firefighters were quickly on the scene and put the fire out, but they were unable to save Mrs Herring.

Fire investigators found the blaze had been started in two separate parts of the pensioner’s room -- a reclining electrical chair and a commode seat -- indicating a deliberate act of arson.

After interviewing the nursing home staff, police decided Reasbeck’s account was untrue and arrested her.

A post mortem found Mrs Herring died from pneumonia caused by smoke inhalation.

Mrs Herring’s elderly husband David visited his wife’s bedside every morning at around 11am.

She was completely bedridden and a series of strokes had left her unable to speak or use an alarm buzzer to call for help.

On Wednesday members of the jury in the trial were taken to Ancaster House to see the nursing home for themselves.

The trial continues.