A 32-year-old man from Hampshire has been found guilty of the manslaughter of a vulnerable woman who used to babysit him as a child - but was cleared of her murder.

Matthew Reynolds was convicted at Winchester Crown Court of causing the death of 47-year-old Bonnie Harwood who was stabbed to death at her home in Alton, Hampshire, in the early hours of October 10 2021.

The prosecution had claimed that Reynolds stabbed Ms Harwood, who was also a drug user and who sold heroin, multiple times in a robbery to steal her money and drugs.

But the jury found that Reynolds had not intended to cause the death of Ms Harwood, who used a mobility scooter to get around.

Giving evidence, Reynolds told the court that he had known family friend Ms Harwood since he was a child.

He said: “We used to go camping together and she would babysit and we would go to London together.”

Reynolds, from Alton, said that he had started using heroin at the age of 14 and had gone on to start taking crack cocaine as well.

He said that he would visit Ms Harwood’s home “practically every day”, where he would swap crack cocaine for heroin from her.

Judge Angela Morris adjourned the case for Reynolds to be sentenced on a date to be fixed.