Neighbour heard screaming months before woman's death

A man has told a murder trial he was awoken by a scream months before his neighbour strangled her mother to death.

Stefania Glowka, 64, has denied murdering Tamara Glowka, 86, at their home in Devizes, Wiltshire, on Christmas Day, but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Timothy Barnwell told Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday that a scream rang out in the early hours of 30 October. Stefania later apologised to Barnwell for "disturbing his sleep" and told him her mother was suffering from psychosis.

Barnwell told the jury that there were never raised voices or commotions upstairs, bar that incident. The court was previously told Stefania strangled her mother before attempting to take her own life.

The court heard Glowka - who had a recurrent depressive disorder - had been the primary carer for her mother and "reached the end of my road" before killing her in their home.

Barnwell told the jury: "I believe she [Stefania] was friendly with the other neighbours. She was definitely friendly to myself in passing. I never met the mother but I did see her in passing."

Barnwell had "not thought much" of the scream as he assumed it had been due to a nightmare.

Stefania was taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol, where she told a detective that she "didn't want to ruin anyone's Christmas" in terms of her friends finding out what had happened, the court was told.

The jury was also shown police interview footage with Stefania, who worked as a vet until 2019 when she became her mother's full-time carer.

"I'm the only child of a single mother," she said to police. "From the age of two because my father divorced us. All my life it was just the two of us.

"We don't have any family. We are like two old dinosaurs at the end of the line."

By October 2025, the jury heard, Tamara was suffering hallucinations about "people in the corridor".

She also had issues with her thyroid which impacted her physical health.

Tamara spent part of October and November in hospital before she returned home in December.

Stefania said she strangled her mum with a belt on Christmas Day after she got up to use the toilet because she didn't "have enough to carry on".

She then attempted to take her own life.

"I thought it would be nice if we could die the same day," she told police.

"I apologise for everything I've done," she added.

The trial continues.

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