A court date for a Broadmoor patient charged with the murders of two women nearly 12 years ago has been postponed because of bad weather.

The bodies of Clare Letchford, 40, and 75-year-old Beryl O'Connor, known as Dornie, were discovered strangled and burned in their flats less than 100 yards apart in Hastings, in January 1998.

Sussex Police's major crime branch announced in April that they were re-investigating the murders, along with the attempted murder and attempted rape of a 19-year-old Czech student on a Hastings to London Charing Cross train around the same time.

Graham Fisher, 36, of Broadmoor Hospital, Crowthorne, Berkshire, formerly of Bromley, Kent, was charged with the murders of Ms Letchford and Ms O'Connor, and the attempted murder of the Czech student in July.

The plea and case management hearing at Lewes Crown Court was re-listed for January 8 due to weather conditions at Broadmoor.