CHARICE Gassmann sprang out of apparent unconsciousness in hospital when officers arrested her on suspicion of the murder of Alison Connolly, a court heard.

Hours before stabbing Alison through the heart with a steak knife, witnesses had seen Charice arguing with daughter Kylie Hayes and her partner Jacob over coleslaw smeared over the window of a flat at Evelyn House.

When Jacob’s mother arrived, Charice was heard to say, ‘best all get our mums involved then’, the jury at Bristol Crown Court were told today.

Around half an hour after Alison was stabbed, on May 12 this year, arresting officer PC Jon Mapson had attended Great Western Hospital, where Charice and her mother Sarah had gone to accident and emergency.

Charice was getting treatment for the cut on her head caused by a head-butt from 49-year-old Alison earlier that day and soon became unresponsive.

Hospital staff had informed PC Mapson they believed Charice could still hear what was being said, and when information was received Alison had died of her injuries, she was arrested under caution on suspicion of murder.

PC Mapson said in a statement: "On arrival at Great Western Hospital I located Charice Gassmann and Sarah Gassmann.

“They were sat together at accident and emergency, and Charice was being treated for a gash on her forehead. I noticed she had blood spattered on her jumper.

“She was beginning to breathe heavily and seemed to be having a panic attack, and her mother told me Charice was asthmatic.

“Charice became unresponsive and I had to move her from her chair. At 4.35pm we received information the injured party involved in the incident had passed away.

“Charice remained in an unresponsive state but as hospital staff believed she could hear what was being said, the decision was made to arrest her on suspicion of murder under caution.

“As soon as Charice heard the word murder she awoke and became hysterical. Her mother also appeared very upset and was questioning, 'why murder?'

“They were informed the female involved had subsequently died of her injuries. Charice was saying things like ‘who has died, my grandad has died’ but her mother managed to calm her down.”

DC Nick Bishop added Charice had asked officers: “What do you mean, who am I supposed to have killed?”.

“Charice stated, I am not wearing white again, because this jumper has got blood all over it,” said DC Bishop.

“She was reminded what she was being arrested for. She said, ‘I am only going through the story once, it was a head-butt and it spun me out'.”

At around the same time, PC Andrew Parsons was sent to the address of Amberstasia Gassmann in Hartland Close, arriving at 4.26pm.

“I placed Amber Gassmann in the back of a police vehicle, because the police attention had drawn a crowd,” he told the court.

“She asked why the police were there, and what was the reason for this.

“Initially I arrested her on suspicion of being concerned in the murder of Alison Connolly. It was unclear at that stage of the exact details.

“She was obviously very shocked, she was breathing heavily, with rapid shallow breathing. She was panicked.

“She said ‘I can’t take this, I can’t take this in.’

“Two females and three males were brought out of the house by the firearms unit. I was in the driver seat and Amber was in the rear passenger seat and had her head turned towards one of the females, and mouthed ‘she’s dead’.

“I asked her not to communicate in any way.”

PC Parsons was instructed to bring Amberstasia to Melksham custody rather than Gablecross, adding around 45 minutes to their journey, throughout which she was panicked and talkative.

“On Queens Drive I had direct communication from officers on the scene and as a result of further information I de-arrested Amber for being concerned in the murder and re-arrested her for murder,” added PC Parsons.

“Her reaction was just, ‘f***’.

“I was getting quite concerned for her, as her breathing was still rapid and very shallow. She was nervous and talking a lot. She was saying ‘I didn’t do it, am I going to prison, I’m confused, I don’t know what I’m going to do.

“Her exact words at one stage were, ‘You don’t know how this feels, I hope you never have to experience this'.”

For one comment, PC Parsons pulled the car over to take a verbatim note of what had been said.

Amberstasia told him: “I have to tell the truth. I did not do it, please check the description of the person. You can tell by my size, I am bigger than my sister. If I tell you I will get a lot of people in trouble.

"You guys will need to protect my house. If I tell you I will lose the person I love most in the world.

“I love my sister.”

As her words were read to the jury, Amberstasia burst into tears in the dock, with Charice beside her expressionless.

“She urged me to make her sign the statement,” added PC Parsons.

The court had previously heard from neighbours of Kylie Hayes, who had seen arguments erupting throughout the day between Kylie, Charice, and Danielle. Police had attended Kylie’s address just hours before Alison would be stabbed on the doorstep.

Kylie’s boyfriend, Jacob, had had brown sauce smeared over his moped and, in response, had put coleslaw on the window of Danielle’s flat, the court heard.

Jodie Barnes lived next door to Kylie, and was woken along with her partner Paul Williams by shouting at around 10am.

“I heard Danielle and Charice outside, and Kylie upstairs,” Jodie told the court.

“The girls were shouting upstairs for Jacob to come outside and apologise for something.

“The police turned up after a little while and went up to Kylie’s flat. They must have been in there for 15 minutes, and left. Kylie took Jacob out to the car park where his mum was waiting. Then I saw Charice and Danielle come out and start arguing with Jacob’s mum.

“His mum said something like ‘grow up, stop being so immature’."

Later that day, Jodie said she heard arguing start up again, with footsteps running up to Kylie’s flat and banging on the door.

“Nobody answered for a few seconds, then Kylie’s mum went downstairs,” she said.

“It sounded like they got into a bit of a fight. When my partner opened the door I heard Kylie screaming, and I knew something was really wrong.

“She was screaming, ‘she’s stabbed my mum, Charice has stabbed my mum’.”

Charice, 19, and Amberstasia, 23, both deny the charge of murder, while the former admits manslaughter.

The trial continues.