A jury has been sent out to consider a verdict on a woman accused of murdering her mother-in-law for inheritance.
Elizabeth Vamplew, 77, known as Anne, died in hospital from burns and smoke inhalation, after being pulled from a fire at her bungalow in Eton Court, Newark, on December 15, 2021.
Her daughter-in-law, Karen Vamplew, 43, of King Street, Newark, is on trial at Leicester Crown Court accused of murder. It’s alleged that she started the fire deliberately to obtain money from her inheritance.
On week four of the trial, the court heard a summing-up of the case, including witnesses who knew the defendant and victim, police and fire officers and medical experts.
The trial had previously heard that Karen Vamplew was in significant debt, which she had kept secret from her husband and mother-in-law.
She claims the fire was caused by a lit cigarette, which ignited the bed in which Elizabeth Vamplew was sleeping.
It has also been heard throughout the trial that Elizabeth was secretive with her smoking, and smoked exclusively in the kitchen by the open back door — extinguishing her cigarettes under the sink tap and putting the butts in an empty chocolate buttons packet in the kitchen bin.
On Wednesday afternoon, the jury of 12 was sent out to consider its verdict.
The court was told Karen Vamplew had been inconsistent in various accounts.
On the evening of December 14, carers visited Elizabeth, helping her to bed at roughly 5.45pm and left at 6.30pm.
Karen made two visits to the property on Eton Court overnight between December 14 and 15 — something she explained was due to her worry Anne had had a fall - which she was prone to – because she had not had her usual bedtime call or text.
She explained she couldn’t call as Anne would not have her hearing aids in.
At around 12.30am, CCTV footage close to Eton Avenue captured Karen initially walking towards Elizabeth’s bungalow and then running in the opposite direction a short time later.
Karen claims that she had gone to check up on her mother-in-law, but had to leave again as she did not have her key with her to enter — at this point she says there were no signs of fire.
Upon returning to the bungalow shortly after 1.20am and letting herself in, Karen told investigators that she was met with thick black smoke, which is when she made the 999 call.
The court heard evidence from Holy Johnson, a staff nurse at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham who was in charge of Elizabeth when she arrived at the hospital on the night of December 15.
She said that she asked Elizabeth if she was in pain and that she kept replying with the words ‘cigarette’ and ‘kitchen’ and saying ‘cigarette in kitchen’.
A fire investigator Emma Wilson undertook fire tests to demonstrate the possible ignition of Elizabeth’s bedding.
There were four carried out with a cigarette in varying positions, and one with a naked flame.
None of the cigarette tests — one with the cigarette placed on top of the duvet, one with the alight tip down into the folded duvet, one with the cigarette placed on the sheet with the duvet away from it, and the final with the cigarette between the sheet and the duvet — resulted in ignition of the duvet.
Smoking materials and deliberate ignition were the only two methods of ignition which were not ruled out by fire investigators who attended the scene on December 15, 2021, the court heard when Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service group manager Christopher Emmott gave evidence earlier in the trial.
It was mentioned in court that insurance was called at an early stage following Elizabeth’s death.
Karen had significant debts which she failed to disclose to the police in her initial interview following her first arrest in December 2021.
In her first interview, on December 17, 2021, Karen Vamplew said she and her husband Mark had no credit cards, no mortgage as they rented and no other debts. However, when questioned on the topic again in her third interview, on December 18, 2021, she admitted she did have debts totalling “a few thousand, less than five”.
