A NURSE accused of poisoning her mother with a lethal dose of insulin had no motive for trying to kill her, a court heard.

Julia Knight denies attempting to murder Irene Robson while she was recovering from a fall at the Horton General Hospital in Banbury in October last year. However, the 56-year-old admits administering the potentially lethal dose of insulin, but insisted that she wanted to give her mum a medical “blip” to get her better care.

Simon Mayo QC, defending, said: “What possible motive would she have had for taking the life of the mother that she loved? The prosecution have not provided any satisfactory answer to that. There is no financial motive for such an horrendous deed.”

The court heard that Ms Robson’s health had deteriorated after being diagnosed with leukaemia and she had suffered falls and a brain haemorrhage.

Mr Mayo told Oxford Crown Court yesterday that the prosecution’s claim that Knight wanted to end the arguments about putting her mum into a care home did not add up.

He added: “This was to be a murder of pure convenience – that’s what they are left with suggesting. It would be a difficult enough proposition to accept if there was evidence mother and daughter did not get on and there was no love lost between them, but that is not the case here.”

John Price, prosecuting, said it had been a “cold-blooded and carefully planned” murder attempt.

He told the jury that Knight, of Sycamore Drive, Banbury, had forged a prescription for insulin at the West Bar Doctors Surgery, where she worked.

The trial continues.