MAN, 43, WITH PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIA FATALLY STABS MOTHER IN WASHINGTON
A quiet loner who butchered his mum with a knife has been detained in a secure hospital.Steven Parker had been in a happy mood as he walked from a pub to the home he shared with Jean Charlton, 71.
But as reported in later editions of last night's Chronicle, the second he stepped through the door, the ex-soldier became enraged, picked up a kitchen knife, and entered the living room where his mother was on the sofa watching TV.
Without warning, he stabbed and slashed her at least 18 times, before attempting to saw off her head, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
The 43-year-old then called police to the house in Berwick, Oxclose, Washington.
The father-of-three, who is separated from his partner, was still on the phone when the first officer arrived.
Parker admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
A psychiatrist diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia and said Parker had been slowly gripped by the illness.
Judge David Hodson adjourned the case for Parker to be further assessed at St Nicholas's Hospital, Newcastle.
