OFFENDER WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA ADMITS MANSLAUGHTER OF MOTHER AND SISTER IN WIGAN
A paranoid schizophrenic who has been in psychiatric care since killing his mother and sister four years ago, has admitted their manslaughter.John Rao, 44, of Greenwood Street, Standish, stabbed sister Geeta Rao, 43, and mother Leela Rao, 73, at Geeta's home in Wigan in 2008.A year later a jury at Liverpool Crown Court found he was the killer, but he was deemed unfit to stand trial.He was earlier sentenced to an indefinite hospital detention order.Police said he pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.He attacked the women in February 2008 after buying a knife and waiting for them inside his sister Geeta's home.>Suffered delusionsGeeta died at the time and Leela, who was paralysed in the attack, died from her injuries six months later.In a statement before her death she said her son had a history of depression, schizophrenia and aggression towards her.In 2009, the court heard Rao was suffering from delusions and hatched a plot to kill his family on a train from London to Wigan.He was found by police in the front garden of his home.Rao told officers: "My intention was to murder them all because they had been ripping me off, lying to me and not being fair to me."He was detained at Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside.Det Ch Insp Phil Reade said: "This is a tragedy that has devastated a whole family and left two children without a mother and grandmother."Not even the time that has gone by makes this any easier, but I hope that today's outcome allows them to move forward and continue rebuilding their lives."
