A deeply religious retired teacher believed messages written on mirrors in her home were from God, telling her to change her will and leave her home to her young lover, a court has heard.

Benjamin Field, 28, used a white marker pen to leave biblical messages for 83-year-old Ann Moore-Martin as part of a campaign of "gaslighting".

Field sent Miss Moore-Martin letters, postcards and poems speaking of his love and discussing marriage during a year-long seduction.

The church warden, who admits being in a fraudulent relationship with Miss Moore-Martin, also wrote messages urging her to give him £27,000 towards the cost of a dialysis machine, purportedly for his seriously ill brother.

Oxford Crown Court heard that Miss Moore-Martin, who never married or had children, later changed her will to leave her home in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, to Field but changed her mind shortly before she died in May 2017 and alleged Field had poisoned her.

The jury was told Field had taken photographs of the messages, which were later recovered from his phone following his arrest.