A woman who killed a pensioner after pushing her over in a Welwyn Garden City bank has been found guilty of manslaughter.

Courtney Richman pushed 82-year-old Myra Coutinho-Lopez to the floor of Lloyds Bank in Howardsgate, after the pensioner had hit her with her handbag.

She died on December 16, 2021, ten days after the push.

A dispute began after a queue formed in the bank when Mrs Coutinho-Lopez got into a lengthy dispute with a cashier, Luton Crown Court heard.

Richman, who was in the queue of COVID-mask wearing customers, was heard to say: "Hurry up - people don’t have all day."

Another woman customer, who had been using a cash machine inside the bank, offered to help the elderly woman. As she walked her away, Richman said: "Oh thank God", and applauded.

When Mrs Coutinho-Lopez passed her she told her: "Don’t speak to me like that - you are very rude" and "I bet your boyfriend has left you."

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CCTV played to the jury of seven men and five women showed Mrs Coutinho-Lopez swing her handbag and hit Courtney Richman on the back. The young woman then pushed her.

"I wasn’t thinking anything. I just reacted. I pushed her away from me," she Richman.

"Because she had just hit me and I thought she was going to do it again. I did not expect her to go to the floor."

Mrs Coutinho-Lopez suffered fractures of her left upper arm and thigh bone and bruising to her left upper arm, wrist, the tops of her fingers, around her rib cage and flank.

As well as Alzheimer’s, she suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. As a result of the fractures fatty substances were released in her body that caused damage to her lungs and brain.

"The defendant reacted in a wholly inappropriate and unreasonably violent manner. She angrily pushed Mrs Coutinho-Lopez forcefully to the floor of the bank. She struck the floor with some force," said prosecutor Martin Mulgrew.

"The red mist descended on this defendant and she reacted in a wholly inappropriate fashion to this vulnerable old lady."

Richman denied manslaughter but was still convicted.

"I feel terrible, I think about it every day since it has happened and I feel very sorry that she is no longer here."

Judge Michael Simon adjourned sentencing until April 19 for probation reports, but he said he would not be sending her to immediate custody.