Michael Winner's former partner robbed his widow to ‘teach her a lesson’, court told

'It was compensation for what I thought I had lost because of her actions,'Gurgana Gueorguieva tells court. 'I did the robbery to fulfil my mission and I succeeded'

Gurgana Gueorguieva was in a relationship with the film director between 1999 and 2002. (Getty)

Michael Winner's former partner targeted and robbed his widow to "teach her a lesson" over a change to his will, a court heard.

Gurgana Gueorguieva earlier this year admitted robbing 81-year-old Geraldine Winner in her Knightsbridge flat in October 2015.

The 48-year-old appeared at Southwark Crown Court as part of a pre-sentence hearing to determine whether she had intentionally injured Ms Winner and stole €20,000 (£17,700) during the robbery.

Gueorguieva denied causing her any intentional injuries and said that the wounds Ms Winner received were as a result of self-defence in an initial struggle.

"It was never my intention to cause any physical harm to her and in fact I was very careful not to do so but it ended up that way because she was fighting back quite hard," she told the court. "Obviously she was scared and I am not blaming her."

She said she then tried to lift Ms Winner on to a bed to make her more comfortable, but was told not to by the pensioner in case she injured her back.

She gave Ms Winner water through a straw and placed a pillow under her head and covered her with a blanket, Gueorguieva added.

Prosecutor Mark Gadsden later suggested: "You did not feel remotely bad about what you did to that woman because you regarded her as evil."

She replied: "Yes, at the time of the robbery. I did not want to harm her, just to rob her."

Mr Gadsden said Gueorguieva carried out the robbery as "revenge in the biblical sense" and believed Ms Winner had used voodoo dolls against her late husband.

Gueorguieva said that Ms Winner had caused a page of beneficiaries to be removed from Michael Winner's will, removing her and a potential inheritance of £100,000.

When asked about the alleged will change, Gueorguieva said: "She was doing it to deprive people because she was upset, because she was greedy."

Mr Gadsden continued: "In your police interview you said you told others 'someone needs to go to court or around there and teach her a lesson' and you regarded yourself as that person."

He added: "You explained to the police she had voodoo dolls and that's how he got his disease and died."

Gueorguieva, who was in a relationship with the film director between 1999 and 2002, said there was evidence Ms Winner owned the dolls but did not elaborate.

She told the court she did not steal any money.

She said: "She told me at one point 'I am Michael Winner's widow, check my purse on the table' and I pretended I did not know what that means. When I did check her purse I found £10 or £15 which I did not take."

Patrick Dennis, defending, said: "Was it your motivation for this offence to make a lot of money from it?"

"No," she replied. "It was compensation for what I thought I had lost because of her actions. I did the robbery to fulfil my mission and I succeeded."

The hearing is expected to conclude later this week.

Press Association