AN 18-year-old girl has appeared in court charged with murdering her 30-year-old gay lover. Mandy Burton was found with severe head injuries at the home she shared with Louise Berry in Moorgate Street, Blackburn, on Sunday. She died in the Royal Preston Hospital on Wednesday night.

Berry was originally charged with wounding and released on police bail to appear in court yesterday.

During a brief appearance before Blackburn magistrates Berry was formally charged with murder and the case was sent straight to Preston Crown Court.

Berry was remanded on bail with conditions that she lives at an address outside the area, does not enter Blackburn except by prior appointment with her solicitor, surrenders her passport, does not apply for any travel documents, does not leave the boundaries of England, does not communicate with prosecution witnesses and reports to the police station local to her bail address.

Miss Burton, a divorced mother of two children, had been at home in the hours before the attack. Her family were at her bedside when she died.