A WOMAN accused of neglecting her elderly mother and leaving her to die in squalid conditions had an ‘obsessive’ personality and was incapable of making her own decisions, a court heard.

Emma-Jane Kurtz, of Blackwater Way, Didcot, denies one count of wilful neglect of her mother Cecily.

Professor Jeremy Coid took to the witness box as the 41-year old’s trial at Oxford Crown Court continued yesterday and said that she had displayed ‘obsessive’ personality traits.

He told the court: “She appeared unable to make major decisions for herself effectively without being told what to do.

“And not wanting to throw things away, [there were] huge piles of envelopes in her room.”

Kurtz, pictured, also had an ‘unhealthy’ dependency on her father, the court heard, and Professor Coid added: “If he said jump she would jump.”

Earlier the court heard from psychiatrist Dr Ruth Bagshaw who said that ahead of the trial she had examined Kurtz for autism and concluded that she had a mild form of the condition.

The trial continues.