A MAN has appeared in court and denied murdering his mum.

Emmanuel Kalejaiye, 21, denies murdering Tolu Kalejaiye at their family home in Wethersfield Way, Wickford.

A provisional post-mortem examination revealed Mrs Kalejaiye, a 44-year-old accountant, died of a stab wound to the left side of her neck.

She was found lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen of the four-bedroom home she shared with her son on Thursday, September 26.

The church-goer, who moved to the UK from Abeokuta, in Nigeria, leaves behind another son, 18, who went to nearby Beauchamps High School.

Kalejaiye, who appeared in the dock at Chelmsford Crown Court wearing a red prison-issue tracksuit, held his head in his hands throughout the hearing on Friday.

An initial report by a forensic psychiatrist found Kalejaiye, was well enough to enter a plea, but a full report will now be written ahead of his trial.

A ten-day murder trial is due to begin on April 1.

Kalejaiye was remanded in custody by Chelmsford Recorder Judge Charles Gratwicke until the start of the trial, and no application was made for bail.

An inquest into the death of Mrs Kalejaiye has been opened and adjourned by the senior coroner for Essex, Caroline Beasley-Murray.