AN 80-year-old gran was strangled with a lawnmower cord to cover up a shocking assault, a court has heard.

Lea Adri-Soejoko was found dead in a locked shed at Colindale allotments in north London.

Her family and friends raised the alarm when she failed to turn up at an allotment society meeting on February 27 last year.

Prosecutor John Price QC said : “The family members were using their phones to call the number of Mrs Adri-Soejoko.

“Suddenly in the darkness the searchers heard the sound of a ringing phone.

“They tracked it. It led them to a shed on the eastern side of the site.”

Rahim Mohammadi is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of the 80-year-old's murderThe Old Bailey heard allotment secretary Ms Adri-Soejoko had suffered fractured ribs and bruises from being "beaten up" by Rahim Mohammadi.

Mohammadi, 41, of Hackney, is accused of murdering Mrs Adri-Soejoko.

It's alleged he throttled her with the starter cord of a Mountfield lawnmower to stop her reporting the assault.

John Price QC told jurors that Mohammadi spent five hours at the allotment on the day of the killing and had been seen by two other plot holders.

As a committee member, he had his own key to the mower shed which had been locked from the outside with Mrs Adri-Soejoko's body in it, with her keys in her pocket.

Mr Price said the motive for the killing was to prevent the detection of a "very serious" assault on the elderly victim.

He said: "Whereas the killing of Mrs Adri-Soejoko was carried out with cold-blooded deliberation, the other blunt force injuries speak of a more spontaneous use of violence.

"In a phrase, Mrs Adri-Soejoko was beaten up. That in turn does point, it is submitted, to a motive for her murder – to avoid detection for a shocking and very serious assault on a vulnerable old lady."

The lawyer said it suggested the victim knew her attacker and would have been able to identify them.

Mr Price said Mrs Adri-Soejoko had a "passion" for her allotment, which was a short walk from the home where she lived with her granddaughter.

Despite her age, she was said to be in very good health and led a "full and active life".

The defendant had had a plot on the allotment since 2013 and was also a "very keen and active" user of the site, jurors heard.

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Mr Price told jurors that DNA from the defendant was found on the part of lawnmower cord he allegedly used to strangle her.

The defendant denies murder and the trial was adjourned until Tuesday.

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