A pensioner has denied murdering an elderly woman.

Charles Graham, 77, is accused of murdering Davinia Graham, 67, on August 30 this year in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

The defendant, of Fairfield Road, Cheltenham, spoke only to confirm his date of birth and to plead not guilty during a brief hearing at Bristol Crown Court.

A trial is due to start on March 3 next year and last about a week.

Judge Peter Blair KC, the Recorder of Bristol, fixed a further hearing for February 4 and remanded Graham in custody.

Gloucestershire Police previously said emergency services were called to a report of a woman who had been seriously injured at a property on Fairfield Road at around 3.30am on August 31.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.