A woman who stole a butcher's knife and murdered a 58-year-old grandmother made 14 emergency calls to police on the day of the killing, a coroner said.

Nicola Edgington escaped from a mental health unit and attacked Sally Hodkin hours after her desperate calls were downgraded in importance by the Met Police, an inquest review hearing was told.

The unemployed Greenwich resident nearly decapitated Mrs Hodkin with the stolen meat cleaver and attacked then 22-year-old Kerry Clark with a kitchen knife bought from Asda

This happened six years after Edgington, 36, killed her own mother and was to be detained "indefinitely" under the Mental Health Act - but was released into the community three years later.

A pre-inquest review into tragic Mrs Hodkin's death in Bexleyheath town centre on October 10, 2011 heard Edgington called police 14 times on the day.

Two police officers took her to Queen Elizabeth Hospital's A&E department in Woolwich where she was transferred to a unit run by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Croydon's Coroner Court was told.

Her calls to police while in the department were downgraded in importance after one of the officers spoke to colleagues, it was said.

MORE: Police missed chance to detain murderer Nicola Edgington on day she killed, report reveals

Edgington was then left in a room on a latch, before she escaped and killed Mrs Hodkin, the hearing was told.

Edgington was convicted of murder and attempted murder.

But following a criminal trial and after independent reports by NHS England and Independent Police Complaints Commission, exactly how she was handled by police and medical staff still needed to be investigated, a coroner ruled at a previous hearing.

Coroner Sarah Ormond-Walshe said the scope of the inquest due to be held in October will include evidence of the calls made to police.

She said: "I added up about 14 calls Ms Edgington made to police when she was at various geographical locations. One of them for assistance when she was in A&E and she preferred to speak to police.

"These were on the day and my point was not necessarily suggesting there would be any (legal) argument - something would be amiss each time - but at least calling 999."

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Bryony Ballard, representing the Met Police, said the police watchdog report into the incident listed only four calls and added: "I know there were some calls made after the officers had left her there.

"At 4.52am, 15 minutes after PC Phillips exits the hospital and as a result of that PC Phillips is then recontacted and asked about how she was and as a result of that the call is downgraded.

"Then there's another call but I didn't see 14 calls."

MORE: A damning report says the death of a grandmother murdered by a psychiatric patient with a meat cleaver was ‘entirely preventable’

The coroner said she will also investigate the "environment" Edgington was left in at the unit after she was assessed by a mental health liaison nurse and duty doctor at the hospital at the inquest.

She said: "The environment Ms Edgington was left in because it was one where there a latch on the door that she was left in.

"There were 15 minute observations. Who was the person who made the decision about the 15 minute observations?"

Samantha Minchin, representing the health trust, said: "The mental health liaison nurse and the duty doctor and I understand the duty doctor no longer works for the trust. We can make inquiries."

The coroner said: "There was a nurse on reception but I also read that she (Edgington) had been left in an entrance place."

She added: "She was allowed to go into the foyer. We did identify that nurse. As I understand it, they left as a result of some of the work that was done in order to investigate this incident."

The hearing was adjourned to the week-long inquest which will examine possible breaches of Mrs Hodkin's right to life under Article 2 of the Human Rights Act.