A MOTHER accused of plotting to murder her daughter's husband told a court she would have handed her nephew over to police if she thought he had killed someone.

Irene Hodgkiss says she told Carl Hodgkiss to visit Marc Jepson at his Farnworth home and give him "a couple of slaps".

Manchester Crown Court heard that the duo's accounts of the circumstances surrounding Mr Jepson's death on March 4 at his Kildaire Street home differ.

Carl Hodgkiss said his cousin Sandra Jepson, Irene's daughter, had asked him to visit Mr Jepson earlier in the day on March 4.

Irene Hodgkiss said her nephew came to her house after visiting Mr Jepson, but simply told her that he had given him a couple of slaps and left him "on the sofa nursing a sore head".

Carl Hodgkiss said he told her Mr Jepson was dead and even changed clothes into some owned by his aunt.

She denied this and also told the court that Carl Hodgkiss and Mr Jepson had been "best friends" and that she was disappointed that it had come to that.

Wayne Jackson, Irene Hodgkiss' defence counsel, asked her: "If Carl Hodgkiss had come to you and said he had killed Marc Jepson how would you react?"

She replied: "I would have phoned an ambulance and the police."

The court heard that, after Mr Jepson's split with Sandra, Irene Hodgkiss' relationship with her estranged son-in-law had been "tolerable".

Irene Hodgkiss had been to visit her nephew about two weeks before Mr Jepson's death, the court heard.

It was then that she claims she asked him to visit Mr Jepson, but she said she had not discussed the matter again with Carl until after he had been to see Mr Jepson on March 4.

She said: "I was an emotional mess. I carry the world on my shoulders and I was frustrated and he asked what was wrong and I told him."

Irene Hodgkiss insisted that she did not consider that Mr Jepson's death was linked to her nephew's visit until she was arrested by police, instead thinking it must have been caused by his diabetes.

She denied that her version of events, that she asked her nephew to give Mr Jepson a "couple of slaps", was designed to cover for her daughter Sandra.

She claimed that she had been concerned about Mr Jepson's health and conceded under cross-examination that her decision to send her nephew round to his house had been an "error of judgement".

Carl Hodgkiss, aged 28, of Elton Avenue, Farnworth, denies murder, conspiracy to murder and to conspiracy to commit GBH.

His aunt Irene, aged 63, denies the latter two charges.

The trial continues.