A MAN charged with battering pensioner Leslie Jackson to death failed to appear in court because he is being treated for leukaemia.

Robert Atkinson, 36, has been placed under police guard at Burnley General Hospital where tests are being carried out.

Bernadette Meadowcroft appeared before Blackburn magistrates yesterday charged with the murder of the disabled pensioner, which took place 10 years ago.

The court was told Mr Jackson, a 70-year-old horse dealer, was battered to death with a hammer at his home in Sussex Drive in the Audley area of Blackburn.

Meadowcroft, who was 20 at the time of the murder, is the dead man's niece.

The 30-year-old mother of two, of Haworth Avenue, Church, wept throughout the hearing.

She burst into tears into tears when an application for bail was turned down by magistrates.

The case was committed to Preston Crown Court and Meadowcroft, who was represented by Peter Turner, was remanded until the trail.

Wearing a T-shirt and tracksuit top, she had to be helped out of the dock by two security guards.

Atkinson, of Monsall Road, Harpurhey, Manchester, was due to appear in court today after being released from hospital.

Mr Jackson, who was 5ft 1in tall and disabled, is thought to have died two days before his battered body was found in the bathroom of his sheltered housing bungalow. His home in Sussex Drive, Audley, had been ransacked and several items of jewellery were stolen.

Atkinson and Meadowcroft were arrested on Monday morning following a lengthy investigation into the murder.

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