Mother and daughter guilty of killing

A mother and daughter collapsed in the dock at the Old Bailey today after being found guilty of killing a neighbour's friend.

It was culmination of years of disputes between two families of women living in the same block of flats.

Sharmaine Evans, 33, died after being stabbed when she got caught up in a retaliation attack when she visited her friend Andrea Spencer, 44.

Sandra Nevers, 45, was found guilty of murder, assault and two charges of wounding with intent.

Her daughter, Aisha Small, 26, was found guilty of manslaughter, and two charges of unlawful wounding.

The women hugged each other and sobbed uncontrollably before collapsing to the floor. A man in the public gallery shouted insults at them.

The judge adjourned the court as some of the six women on the jury began to weep.

The court was told Nevers and Small had gone to Mrs Spencer's flat in June last year, armed with knives following an incident the day before.

Earlier in the day, Andrea Spencer and her four daughters had unsuccessfully begged officials at the London Borough of Southwark to rehouse them.

Police had been called twice the night before to her flat and the flat two floors above of Sandra Nevers and her family, said David Fisher QC, prosecuting.

He said that after being arrested and released by police, Nevers and her daughter Aisha Small went to Mrs Spencer's flat.

Armed with a knife each, they killed family friend Sharmaine Evans by stabbing her three times to her side after she tried to intervene.

They also wounded Mrs Spencer, 44, by stabbing her in the buttocks, and wounded her daughter Stacey Clarke, 23, by slashing her hand.

Nevers, of Maywood House, Glebe Estate, Camberwell, and Small, of Rotherhithe, both south London, both denied the offences.