A brother who choked his sister to death told a 999 operator he murdered her because she was being "cheeky".

Charles Gordon was found guilty of killing his sister Elizabeth Bowe at her flat in St Andrews, Fife.

The High Court in Glasgow heard Gordon strangled his 50-year-old sister and then called the police.

He told a 999 operator: "I think I've killed my sister. She's dead and I'm alive "

When asked why he did it, Gordon told the call handler was being "cheeky".

Police who arrived at the scene found Gordon calmly smoking a cigarette while his dying sister, who was naked from the waist down, lay just feet away from him with blood coming from her mouth and a blue dressing gown wrapped round her neck.

Torn pieces of a plastic bag, one of which had Ms Bowe's blood on it, were near her body in her home in Bobby Jones Place.

Gordon told police officers who battled to save Elizabeth: "She's already dead, you might as well give up."

Ms Bowe was taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee where she was pronounced died three days after the murderous attack on September 17 last year.

Pathologist Dr David Sadler told the court the victim, who was 5ft 6in and weighed 7st 4lb, died from strangulation.

The jury was told Ms Bowe would have lost consciousness after ten to 20 seconds but it would take at least a minute to inflict a fatal injury.

In evidence, 52-year-old Gordon admitted killed his sister but not murdering her.

He said: "I grabbed hold of her by the throat with my left hand. I kept a hold of her until she hit the floor. She slumped and went down. When she went down I let her go."

Gordon was also accused of raping his sister but that charge was withdrawn at the end of the Crown case.

He will be sentenced next month.