An 83-year-old woman was tied up by burglars who left her to die in her Stamford Hill home, the Old Bailey heard today.

An 83-year-old woman was tied up by burglars who left her to die in her Stamford Hill home, the Old Bailey heard today.

Eveline Kelmenson was dressed in her nightclothes and froze in her large home in Leweston Place as she waited for help.

The robbers escaped with a gold wedding ring and gold necklace, both family heirlooms, prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told the court.

Miss Kelmenson is believed to have been attacked at the end of November 2008, but her body was not discovered until New Year’s Day 2009.

Mr Laidlaw said: “Miss Kelmenson was left bound and gagged on the floor of her bedroom.

“It was winter and it was cold and because she was alone in the house, unless she could free herself, she had no means of escape or of alerting others to her plight.

“It must have been a terrifying experience. Over the hours and possibly the days to come she died a slow death from hypothermia.”

Kuba Dlugosz, 33, of no fixed address, and Szymon Wyrostek, 26, of Tottenham, deny manslaughter, burglary and robbery.

Miss Kelmenson, who was known as Lina, had never married and lived alone in her family home.

She was the last of 10 brothers and sisters who had lived in the five-bedroom property.

She lived an independent life with little contact with relatives who eventually alerted police.

Mr Laidlaw said the burglars broke in through the ground floor and tied the pensioner up while they ransacked the house.

He said: “At 83 years old, Miss Kelmenson did not, as these men should surely have realised, have the physical strength to loosen or escape from the bindings.

“Most tragically, because she led an independent but solitary life, neither did anyone else come to her aid.”

Mr Laidlaw told the jury there was no evidence that the men had intended to harm Miss Kelmenson.

He added: “The act of gagging and tying up an old lady was an extraordinarily dangerous thing to have done and they plainly gave no thought to how she might be able to escape.”

The hearing continues.