THE case of an East Lancashire man charged with the unlawful killing of a nursing home patient has been adjourned until November.

Dennis Anthony Latham, 32, of Brook Street, Rishton, is jointly charged with Barbara Jean Campbell, 60, of Glasgow, of killing Marion Ethel Dennis, 77.

Both appeared at the court of General Gaol Delivery in Douglas, Isle of Man, where the case was adjourned and their conditional bail extended.

The pair will return to court for a plea hearing in November before a trial next year, estimated to last up to three-and-a-half months.

The pair worked as nursing staff at the Ballastowell Gardens residential nursing home in Ramsey in the north of the island, where Mrs Dennis, a retired shopkeeper, was a patient.

Latham and Campbell were charged with the unlawful killing last year after the Isle of Man coroner called for a police investigation following Mrs Dennis' death at the island's Nobles Hospital on July 20, 1999.