Amy Richmond, 18 at the time, was working just her third shift when colleague and murder suspect Thakane Mtetwa, 61, told her to say 86-year-old Elsie Skelton had passed away while they were giving her a bed bath.

The pair carried out regular night shift checks on the residents at Layden Court Care Home on All Hallows Drive.

After covering for a colleague on another ward Miss Richmond returned to Mrs Skelton's ward at about 5.15am on 16th October 2007.

Mtetwa told her to go on ahead and run the warm water in Mrs Skelton's room.

The witness said the defendant came into the room, said 'oh no' and then when back out again. It was at this point Miss Richmond realised that the resident might be dead.

"I stood there and didn't know what to do," she told Sheffield Crown Court today.

"Thakne said to me that we'll just have to say she went while we were washing her, otherwise they will be on our backs for the rest of our days."

"I was shocked. I have never been in a position like that before. I just did what she asked me to do because she was more experienced."

Miss Richmond changed the bedding while Mtetwa calmly changed Mrs Skelton's nightie.

On the bus home from her night shift Miss Richmond phoned her mum to tell her what had happened.

When she arrived home she called the line manager at Hallam Healthcare, the agency for which she had recently started working.

He told her he would get in touch with the care home manager and thanked her for reporting the incident, the jury was told.

"I knew it was a lie," Miss Richmond told the court when asked about what supervising staff nurse Mtetwa had said. "But at that moment in time I didn't know who I could tell."

"When you're going to blow the whistle there are only certain people you can tell."

Defending counsel Jeremy Baker QC cross-examined the witness on Tuesday afternoon.

He pointed out several differences to his client's version of events, notably that Mtetwa claims to have sounded the emergency alarm before giving Mrs Skelton CPR.

Mr Baker suggested Miss Richmond's account might be 'a bit blurry,' given that she was so new to the job and it was her first encounter with death in this way. She denied this.

Mrs Skelton's daughter-in-law Joan visited her frequently, and was due to visit later on the day she died.

She admitted that the health of husband Paul's mum had deteriorated rapidly since 2005 – so much so that it upset Paul to visit. But Joan Skelton said she had retained an appetite, and staff would often comment on how she enjoyed the puddings served at Layden Court.

It was the defendant who phoned the Skeltons at about 6.10am to inform them of the death.

"She gave the name of the home and her name, and then said she was sorry but they were bathing Elsie and she had had a fall and died," said Jean Skelton.

When she and Paul arrived at the home less than an hour later, they assumed the facial injuries had happened when she fell.

"As we looked at her, the first thing we saw were markings, bruises and redness, on her nose and under one eye," said Jean Skelton. "I moved her hair out of her eyes and kissed her on her forehead. I just said 'She's at peace now, God bless her'."

Jean Skelton maintains that she was then told by Mtetwa that Mrs Skelton had not actually fallen, and in cross examination Mr Baker asserted that his client had instead said 'collapsed'. But the witness stood by what she recalled from the orginal telephone message.

The trial continues.