A GRANDMOTHER who was allegedly killed by her grandson died as a result of multiple stab wounds to her neck, Exeter Crown Court heard.

Alison Stevenson suffered a massive gash to the side of her neck which may have been caused by a 19.5 cm kitchen knife which police recovered from the sink at her home in Helston, Cornwall.

Her grandson Cameron Dancey-Stevenson is on trial at Exeter Crown Court accused of murdering her on the nights of May 24 to 25, 2021 at the cottage where she lived alone in Heneage Road, Helston.

Dancey-Stevenson, aged 26, who was living in tent at Penrose Park, Helston at the time and is currently a patient at Langdon Hospital in Dawlish, denies murder. He says someone else killed her.

The prosecution say he had a grudge against her because she had reported him to the police for breaking a restraining order which banned him from going to her home.

He suffered mental health problems and she had tried to help him but gone to the police because she was concerned about his violent behaviour. He was due in court to be sentenced for breaching the restraining order on May 25, the day she was found dead.

The jury have been told that 62-year-old Mrs Stevenson’s blood was found under Dancey-Stevenson’s nails and a blood mark at the house matched his training shoe.

Dancey-Stevenson is alleged to have stayed at the house after the killing and used his grandmother’s washing machine and tumble drier to wash his bloodstained clothing.

Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Amanda Jeffery said she carried out a post mortem examination at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Exmouth on May 27, which concluded the cause of death was knife wounds to the neck.

She said there was a large area of injury in which there were so many stab wounds that it was not possible to discern their individual tracks and the injury would have led to rapid loss of blood and death.

She said some of the wounds appeared to have passed through the entire width of the neck and sufficient force had been used to cut through the larynx and part of a vertebra, which is part of the spinal column..

She said: 'The spine is quite robust and I consider it would have required severe force create that sort of injury.'

She said the minimum length of knife required to cause the injuries was nine centimetres but the 19.5 inch kitchen knife found in the kitchen sink could have been used in the attack.

She said: 'Alison Stevenson had been the victim of a sharp force assault, having sustained multiple stab wounds and incised wounds, primarily to her neck area. The main wound consisted of a large gaping wound around the right side.

'It had the appearance of being a coalescence of multiple wounds and multiple passages of the knife.'

Dr Jeffery also noted evidence that Mrs Stevenson tried to defend herself and suffered cuts to both arms including a wound to a finger on her right hand that went to the bone.