A PROSTITUTE killed a man who loved her by setting fire to his house because 'the voices in her head told her to', a court heard today.

Patricia Hindle, 30, locked Michael Redpath inside his home after setting fire to his shirt and throwing it at the bottom of the stairs.

Just minutes before, Mr Redpath, 62, had confessed his love to the mother-of-one.

Hindle, who lived on Crombey Street gave evidence at Winchester Crown Court where she denies murdering Mr Redpath.

Hindle said a row broke out between the pair of them when Mr Redpath made a pass at her and then joked about being on the sex offenders' register.

She said Mr Redpath was drunk and got out his electric guitar and started playing a song by The Beatles which she didn't recognise.

He put the guitar down, sat by the side of Hindle and got a "bit touchy-feely" by attempting to grope her, at which point she pushed away his hand and said: "We are just friends."

Mr Redpath replied: "I want you to be my girlfriend" and Hindle told him: "you are a bit too old for me, you remind me of my granddad."

Hindle told the court Mr Redpath then threw a letter at her which showed he was on the sex offenders' register and laughed about it, causing her to be offended.

Mr Redpath, from Albion Street, told Hindle he needed money for his court date the following day at which point she revealed to him for the first time that she was a prostitute and would get him the money.

Hindle claimed 'irate' Mr Redpath stormed into the kitchen and grabbed a knife before pocketing it and telling her he would go with her for her safety.

She told him he couldn't go with her and the pair argued before 'steaming drunk' Mr Redpath said he wanted to go to bed.

Hindle, who has a history of schizophrenia, told the court as he crawled up the stairs 'she started getting voices in her head and the whole room was going funny.'

She said: "I grabbed a shirt and lit it. I lit the shirt because the voices were telling me to, they were saying he deserved it because he was taking the p*** out of me."

The shirt burnt her hand and she threw it by the bottom of the stairs before leaving and locking the door behind her.

Recalling the day of the fire, Hindle said: "I got there [Mr Redpath's house] about five past four and on the way I stopped at the shop and bought him a drink.

"He gave me a kiss and a cuddle and I poured him a drink. We were talking and I showed him a picture of my little girl, he was very polite and asked how my family were.

"I asked him about his family and he got a bit upset. He couldn't remember if he had any children and he was telling me his mother was in a care home," she said.

Joseph Giret QC, defending, said Hindle's IQ of 65 meant she wasn't fully aware that her actions would kill her friend.

Mr Giret said: "Mr Redpath was loved, loving and a very nice and caring person. The first person who would say these comments is Patricia Hindle.

"She caused his death and she accepts that, she did the acts which resulted in his demise - however this is not a case where she set out that day to carry this out.

"If she had lost her temper, could she, Patricia Hindle, who has an IQ of 65 with all her conditions, set out to punish? Could she? Did she have control?

"With her IQ of 65 she falls within the lowest one per cent of people in this country," he said.

"Whatever her state of mind or whatever she intended, she did not mean to cause death. She is not a well person.

"She was suffering from such abnormality of mind, her mind was so impaired."

Mr Giret also said she has to take more than the recommended dose of anti-psychotic medicine.

He said: "The World Health Organisation recommends 700mg of Quetiapine a day, today she is on 800mg.

"She is drugged right up to her eyeballs, so imagine what she is like without this drug."

The trial continues.