A man charged with murdering a mother-of-one at the supermarket where she worked is also accused of attacking her mother weeks before.
Neville Hord, 44, appeared at Bradford Crown Court on Friday via videolink from HMP Armley in Leeds as his trial date was fixed for later this year.
The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall, QC, said Hord would provisionally face trial on May 21 over the allegations he murdered Jodie Willsher in Skipton, North Yorkshire, on December 21 and inflicted grievous bodily harm on Mrs Willsher’s mother, Nicole Dinsdale, on November 25.
No pleas were entered by the defendant as psychiatric and psychological reports are awaited, the court heard.
A further preparatory hearing will take place on March 15 when Hord will be produced from custody to attend.
Floral tributes outside the Aldi supermarketwhere Jodie Willsher died (Danny Lawson/PA)
Hord stared ahead passively throughout Friday’s brief hearing, lasting just more than 10 minutes, and spoke only to confirm his identity and that he understood the trial arrangements before he was further remanded in custody.
Mrs Willsher died in the Aldi store in Keighley Road from wounds to the chest and abdomen as customers rushed to pin down and detain a suspect before emergency services arrived.
Earlier this month, her husband, Malcolm, and five-year-old daughter Megan led hundreds of mourners at her funeral in Skipton.
In a eulogy read to the congregation, Mr Willsher said the death of his wife had left a “great hole in our lives” and added that she and his daughter were “more than mother and daughter, they were best friends”.
When Hord appeared at Leeds Crown Court last month his family passed a statement to the media via his lawyers in which they expressed their “sincere condolences” to Mrs Willsher’s family and added: ” No words can convey our sorrow for this tragic turn of events.”