Murder-accused siblings told not to give mum medication, court hears

A well-known hotelier and his sister accused of murdering their 100-year-old mother were warned not to give her any more pain medication, a court has heard.

Oxford restaurateur Jeremy Mogford, 79, and his sister Sarah Pickering, 72, deny murdering their mother, Pamela Mogford, in Bledlow Ridge, Buckinghamshire.

A jury heard they admit administering further morphine before she died on 15 February 2022, but only “to ease her pain”.

Giving evidence in Oxford Crown Court on Thursday, their mother’s GP said he had warned the siblings not to give her any further medication for pain on the night she died.

Dr Thomas Neal told the court he had visited his patient three times on the day of her death and given her two injections of morphine.

He said she had been complaining of back pain and that he wanted to make her “comfortable” for the night.

Describing her as “very unwell”, he said that “it was possible that she was dying and coming to the end of her life”.