A WOMAN has appeared in court charged with murdering her live-in lover at their South Yorkshire home.
Beverley McManus, aged 47, of Hall Street, Hoyland, Barnsley, is accused of murdering 50-year-old Margaret Desmond.
South Yorkshire Police said a post mortem examination of Ms Desmond's body revealed she had been strangled.
She was pronounced dead at the scene in the early hours of Sunday.
McManus's case was transferred by Barnsley magistrates to Sheffield Crown Court, and she was remanded in custody. She has not yet entered a plea.
The two women had lived together for years in the same mid-terraced house on Hall Street, a quiet side street off the King Street shopping area.
Ms Desmond is believed to have spent the hours before her death in the nearby G&T's Bar and The Gate pub.
Police were called at around 3.15am, and Ms McManus was seen being led away from the house to a waiting police car around an hour later.
Neighbour Helen Cook, aged 40, said: "I saw Margaret in the G&T Bar the night before she died. I have heard she went to The Gate too that night.
"We have not spoken to the couple for the last few years. Police were at the house the weekend before last."
Her husband Darren, 37, said: "When we first moved in they were the kind of people who would just walk into our house without knocking.
"On the night Margaret died we didn't hear anything. I just heard the gate squeaking when Margaret got in, and then we saw the police the next day."
Another neighbour added: "We haven't lived here long and the first we knew of this was when the police had our street sealed off and came knocking asking us if we knew anything.
"It is shocking to hear about a murder on your doorstep."
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