WOMAN WITH MENTAL DISORDER BLUDGEONED MOTHER TO DEATH IN BIRMINGHAM
A WOMAN with an extreme mental disorder who bludgeoned her elderly mother to death with a hatchet at the home they shared in Birmingham has been sent to a secure hospital.The body of 83-year-old Margaret Casey was discovered at the address a number of days after she had been killed.Her daughter, Linda Casey, aged 50, admitted manslaughter.Birmingham Crown Court heard the tragedy happened after Casey stopped taking medication.In making the hospital order Judge William Davis QC told Linda Casey: “On June 27 of last year you were suffering from an acute mental disorder.In that state you did a terrible thing which you now bitterly regret.“You effectively killed the only other person you have in the world.“You did so because your mental responsibility was very substantially diminished.
This is not a case where you should be sent to prison.
This is a case where you should be treated.”Peter Grieves-Smith, prosecuting, said the two women lived in Selsey Road, Edgbaston, and that Margaret Casey was in a poor physical state.“It is clear that the condition of her mental state caused the defendant significant problems in the way that she looked after her mother.”Mr Grieves-Smith said Casey suffered from bipolar effective disorder and that between 1988 and 2005 she had been admitted for psychiatric help on 18 separate occasions.He said on June 27 she was seen acting in a bizarre way on CCTV near the Bull statue in Birmingham and later told a landlord of a pub that her mother had “gone to heaven”.On July 5, following concerns by a neighbour who had not seen the victim for a few days, police broke in and found her at the foot of the stairs.She died as a result of being struck multiple blows with an axe by the defendant to the head and police later found the weapon in her bedroom.Christopher Hotten QC, defending, said: “It was a situation that had the potential to end in disaster which it did.“It seems her condition deteriorated over the course of months.
She stopped taking her medication.”
