PSYCHOTIC SON BLUDGEONS MOTHER TO DEATH AND IS DETAINED INDEFINITELY
Ewen Howie had devoted his life to his mother, taking over the family farm after his father was killed in a car accident.The pair was described as best friends, living alone in a remote farmhouse near Turriff, Aberdeenshire.
On February 16, 2001, Howie, aged 46, bludgeoned his mother, Eileen, to death with a blunt instrument, fearing she was going to poison him.
Following the attack, he set fire to their home, which was a family residence for four generations.
Howie developed a psychotic disorder, believing his mother had become his enemy, and feared her when she returned to the farmhouse on the night of her death.
His lawyer stated he 'felt his mother had changed from being his best friend to being against him,' and psychiatrists confirmed he was suffering from an alienation of reason, resulting in his being found not guilty of murder on the grounds of insanity.
As a consequence, he was detained indefinitely in the State Hospital at Carstairs.
The court heard that Howie had no previous history of mental illness but had been prescribed sedatives recently due to racing thoughts and insomnia.
The psychiatrist explained that Howie believed his mother was part of a conspiracy to kill him, feeling terror and paranoia, especially about the color red, which he tried to destroy in the house.
The judge ordered his detention without a time limit, and outside the court, his brother Graham expressed support, calling it a 'terrible tragedy for the whole family.'
