A WOMAN fatally stabbed her mother through the back with a kitchen knife, later telling police 'what have I done?' a court heard.

Jessica Crane of Hillside Close, Worcester, denies the murder of her mother, 69-year-old Janet Mason, after she plunged the carving knife into her back and through her heart.

The 50-year's trial got underway at Worcester Crown Court today following the fatal stabbing which took place at the defendant's grandmother's address (the victim's mother's address) in Green Lane, Worcester on March 9 last year.

* Worcester drink driver suspected of speeding and using phone

* Man, 26, charged with rape

* Armed man rushes at group

Richard Atkins QC, prosecuting opened the case to the jury, saying how it was Crane who called 999 at 10.41am, telling call handlers she had just attacked her mother.

"She said on the call she was not well. She said she had stabbed her mother and she thought her mother was dead," said Mr Atkins.

Mr Atkins showed the jury the knife, still stained with blood, which was in a sealed, clear plastic cylinder. The black-handled knife was described as being 30cm in length with a 25cm blade

"You will see that it has blood on it. Please, when you get to look at it, do not take it out of the sealed container," he said.

He added: "She had plunged that knife into her mother's back, through her ribcage, through her heart to a depth of 20.5cm - that's eight inches in old money - which was fatal."

The prosecution case is, he said, that she intended to cause her mother, at the very least, serious injury 'and, in all likelihood intended in that moment to kill her'.

"What else could you intend if you plunge a large knife in someone's back to that depth?" he said.

He said the jury would have to decide whether she was suffering from any mental health problems which reduce her culpability such as they could find she was not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

Officers arrived at the address at around 10.45am. "They found the defendant outside the property holding her hands out in front of her. They were covered in blood" said the prosecutor.

Crane told officers she had had 'a fallout with my mum - I have attacked her with a knife'.

Mr Atkins said Crane told officers the knife was in the kitchen.

However, 'it wasn't' and instead found it in the shrubbery in the back garden of the house. Crane had a cut on her right thumb.

The defendant was initially arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent because it was not known at that stage that Ms Mason could not be saved.

Crane was reported by one officer to say 'what had she done' but Crane later said she could not remember saying that.

Ms Mason was found in the lounge, face-down with her head on the cushion of an armchair and her knees on the floor surrounded by blood. The defendant's 90-year-old grandmother, Edith Cockell, was in the house at the time.

Visible on Ms Mason's back was a 2cm to 3cm stab wound, just below her shoulder blade. Efforts were made to save her by officers and paramedics but she was pronounced dead at 11.15am.

Ms Cockell said her daughter Janet had been at the address to clean for her and had seen that Jessica 'wasn't looking very well'. She had heard a scream and her daughter had come into the living room and said 'get an ambulance' before collapsing into the chair where she was found by police.

Stab marks were found on the wall of a bedroom in the house in Green Lane where Crane stayed and wallpaper was also found on the floor.

Mr Atkins said four fifths of the blade went into Ms Mason's back and that a rib was also damaged by the blade. "This was not a gentle stab. This required considerable force," he said.

He told the jury there had been no defensive injuries. "She did not see this attack coming. She was stabbed in the back. She was unarmed. She was defenceless" said Mr Atkins.

Two days before the stabbing she had asked a neighbour for rope and a petrol can which he had assumed was for towing a car. Crane's phone, seized by police, also revealed searches including 'how to end your life', 'what causes carbon monoxide poisoning at home?', 'strong rope', 'will God forgive me?' and 'how do people commit suicide in prison'.

Her notebooks were also seized. One entry read: "Dark thoughts. Hurt my mother."

The trial continues.