Doncaster Murder Accused Has Chequered Past

A court has heard the woman accused of killing a 13 year old girl in a Doncaster park has spent time in a psychiatric hospital.

26 year old Hannah Bonser, went on trial accused of murdering Casey Kearney, who was found stabbed in Elmfield Park in February.

Prosecutor Graham Reeds QC told the jury: “Hannah Bonser is a woman with a troubled history, who was in regular contact with outreach workers at Rethink - which is a service which assists those in Doncaster with mental health difficulties.

“In October 2011 she had spent a short time in a psychiatric hospital in Doncaster.”

Bonser, of Cusworth House, Doncaster, denies murder. Members of Casey's family looked on from the public gallery in Sheffield Crown Court as the case began.

Casey was from the village of Rossington, near Doncaster.

Three days before Casey's death, Bonser told a friend she was going to kill her ex-boyfriend and threatened to “get anyone else who crossed her”, the court heard.

Mr Reeds said: “On 11 February, she went to see one of her friends, a woman called Hayley Spouse, and told her that she was going to stab her ex-boyfriend to death because he had made her have an abortion years ago and she hadn't wanted to do it, and then she was going to get anyone else who crossed her in her life.”

On the morning of Casey's death, Bonser bought two kitchen knives, the jury heard.

Mr Reeds said: “It cannot be known why Hannah Bonser went to the park that afternoon. She later declined to answer police questions and she now claims to have no memory of what she did.”