A woman has appeared in court charged with murdering her father and burying his body in her back garden.

Barbara Coombes, 63, from Reddish in Stockport, is accused of murdering her father on 8 January 2006 and then preventing his lawful burial. She is also charged with fraud after sending letters pretending to be her father in order to make financial gain.

It is also alleged that she pretended to be his carer. The fourth charge states that between 7 January 2006 and 15 January 2007 Coombes dishonestly obtained for herself “a pecuniary advantage”, namely that she was “given the opportunity to earn remuneration or greater remuneration in an office or employment by deception, namely by falsely representing that [she was] a carer for Kenneth Coombes”.

She was not given the opportunity to indicate a plea when she appeared before Manchester and Salford magistrates court on Thursday. Coombes spoke only to confirm her name, address, date of birth and nationality.

The deputy district judge, David Scanlon, said the case was too serious to be heard at the court. He remanded her in custody and ordered her to appear at Manchester crown court on Friday.

On Sunday a woman presented herself at Cheadle Heath police station and said she had killed a man a number of years ago, Greater Manchester police said.

An investigation was launched and on Tuesday officers searching her property found the body of a man, believed to be Kenneth Coombes.

Neighbours said they had not seen him for many years and assumed he had moved away.