A TEENAGER today admitted raping and killing a frail pensioner who regarded him as a grandson.
Jay Soso, 19, pleaded guilty to carrying out the horrific sex attack on 63-year-old Marie Reid at her home in Easter Drylaw Way, Edinburgh on November 11, 2010.
Mrs Reid’s body was discovered four days later after family and neighbours became worried because they hadn’t heard from her.
She was found lying in the living room in a bloodstained nightie. Pathologists say that the trauma of the rape contributedd to Mrs Reid death.
Initially, police thought that Mrs Reid’s death was not suspicious, but her son Paul, 31, and step-daughter Jacqueline pressed for further investigations to be made.
At this point it was discovered that someone had had sex with Mrs Reid just before her death.
The cause of death was unascertained, but pathologists said that the rape would have put an additional strain on her heart and lungs and could predispose her to sudden death
Prosecutor Leanne Cross told the High Court in Glasgow: “The deceased was raped on the evening of November 11, 2010. She had died at that time and the rape had made, at the least, a material contribution to the death.
Police contacted everyone who knew Mrs Reid and when interviewed Soso said he had not seen her for a couple of months.
However he gave a mouth swab which was a match for DNA found on Mrs Reid.
The court heard Soso and his mother lived next door to Mrs Reid for five years between 2003 and 2008.
He helped Mrs Reid by running errands for her and she was described by Soso’s mother Sharon as treating him “like a grandson.”
Soso’s family moved to England, but he didn’t like it there and moved back to Edinburgh.
By 2010 he had a job in a fishmongers in the city and lived close to Mrs Reid.
He visited her occasionally claiming he was checking to see how she was.
Speaking outside the court, Mrs Reid’s son Paul said he became worried that something terrible had happened to his mother when he noticed the pre-paid meter for her television was missing along with a tin she collecting loose change in and her purse was empty.
Paul and his step-sister Jacqueline Sanderson, 38, and her husband Gordon, 54, asked for the matter to be thoroughly investigated.
He said: “If it wasn’t for us and our persistence it could have been recorded as a natural death.”
Judge Lady Dorrian deferred sentence on Soso of Spring Gardens, Edinburgh, for background reports and an assessment of the risk he poses to the public until later this month and remanded him in custody.