Patricia and William Wycherley's daughter 'lost it' and shot mother

Susan Edwards, 56, and Christopher Edwards, 57, are alleged to have murdered the couple in 1998

A woman accused of murdering her parents and burying them in the back garden has told a jury she "lost it" and shot her mother.

Susan Edwards, 56, and her husband Christopher, are on trial for the murder of William and Patricia Wycherley in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in 1998.

Their bodies were undiscovered for 15 years until last year.

They deny murder but Mrs Edwards has admitted the manslaughter of her mum.

The jury at Nottingham Crown Court had been told the pair murdered Mr and Mrs Wycherley at their home and pretended they were alive to claim their pension.

The bodies of Patricia and William Wycherley were found in their back garden

On Friday, Mrs Edwards told how she walked into her parents' bedroom to find her mother standing over her dead father's body.

She said she picked up the gun, a World War Two revolver, from the bed to keep it from Mrs Wycherley.

The court heard her mother began to taunt her, saying she had never been wanted as a child, that she had been abused by her father and that she had an affair with Christopher Edwards.

Speaking quietly from the dock, the grey-haired former librarian told the court of the moment she killed her mum.

'I lost it'

"She kept saying all of these things. She said she knew of my father's abuse," Mrs Edwards said.

"She kept saying things over and over again. I asked her 'please stop saying these things and go away. Please stop saying these things.'

"She didn't. She kept going on and on. It seemed like a long time.

"At some point I lost it. I shot my mother."

Mrs Edwards, who was visiting her parents over the May Bank Holiday, then wrapped both bodies in a duvet and hid them under the bed, she told the court.

She went home to Dagenham two days later but returned the next weekend with her husband and told him what happened.

Ahead of the trial, police released photos of William Wycherley

Mrs Edwards said her husband wanted to go straight to the police but she persuaded him not to.

"I emotionally blackmailed him," she said. "I held his arm and pulled him away. He wanted to go to the phone. I used everything in my power - the love between us - for him not to call the police."

The pair buried the remains in the back-garden of the house, where they lay undiscovered for 15 years.

The court heard previously the police were tipped off after Mr Edwards asked his stepmother for money and gave her an account of what happened.

The prosecution claims the couple were murdered for their cash and pensions.

The case continues.