A 90-YEAR-OLD woman told staff at a care home she “could jump out” of her window, after admitting she found it hard to get used to her new home.

Dora Strickland died after she was found below the second floor flat at Red Lodge in New Earswick she shared with her husband, Jack, also 90. The couple had moved in five months prior to her death in November 2011, after living in the same home for 54 years.

Dr Kevin Anderson visited Red Lodge once a week to speak to residents, and met with Mr and Mrs Strickland at the care home a few weeks before her death.

Dr Anderson was asked to see Mrs Strickland after she told a care worker she was thinking of taking her own life, but in his assessment while she “had a degree of vulnerability - due to her age and ailments with her eyes and legs - she had “no active plans for suicide”.

He said: “She admitted she had been worried about the transition, and she was finding it hard.

“She didn’t want to feel like a burden, but when I asked about her plans and thoughts about suicide or self-harm, she didn’t appear to be - in my opinion, at that point - although she had concerns, she wasn’t coming across to me as somebody who was suffering from depressive illness.”

Speaking on the second day of the trial at York Crown Court, Dr Anderson said he recommended Mrs Strickland be monitored by staff and her family, for any changes in outlook or mood, and when he saw her again, she had smiled and said hello.

Hazel Walker, who works as a night care assistant at Red Lodge, said she noted Mrs Strickland had appeared upset over edema or swelling in her legs, during morning checks at 6am on October 26, 2011, just days before her death.

She told the court: “She was stressed because of her legs. She said ‘I could jump out of that window’.

“As I was going to assist her back into bed, she made that comment.

“She seemed okay, she wasn’t crying or anything like that, it just took me aback.”

Miss Walker said she had checked the window of Mrs Strickland’s room was closed before leaving, and noted her comment on the daily report book, which was handed to her supervisor.

City of York Council are prosecuting Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust which runs the Red Lodge community over Mrs Strickland’s death.

The Trust denies failure to protect the safety of the home’s residents and failure to have and proper risk assessment in place regarding its windows.

The trial continues.