Hospital order for son who stabbed mother to death

A man who stabbed his mother to death while having delusional thoughts about "people wanting to kill and torture" him has been given an indefinite hospital order.

Christine Emmerson, 71, was found dead in a pool of blood at her home in Kirk Close, West Ashby, near Horncastle, on 3 August 2023.

Shaun Emmerson, 51, was charged with murder but was found not fit to stand trial by a judge after he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia by doctors.

Passing sentence at Lincoln Crown Court, Judge Simon Hirst said: "This has been a difficult case."

Mrs Emmerson was stabbed nearly 30 times with a kitchen knife and died of wounds to her neck, prosecutors had said during a trial of facts.

Delivering their verdict last week, jurors concluded her son carried out the act of killing his mother.

During the sentencing on Tuesday, Judge Hirst made an indefinite Section 41 hospital order and Emmerson will be detained at Arnold Lodge, where he is currently being treated, until he is deemed fit to be released, if that ever occurs.

Judge Hirst commended the actions of three police officers who were at the scene of the killing.

During the three-day trial of facts, the jury heard Emmerson called 999 at about 12:30 BST and threatened to jump from a conservatory roof after the fatal stabbing.

The 999 call was played to the jury, who heard Emmerson tell the call handler that he had stabbed his mother with a knife in a "violent attack" and left her in the living room.

When asked what had happened, he told the call handler that "everyone" was "going to kill" him and made reference to the "department of justice", the court heard.

When the call handler asked why, he replied: "Because they've been talking about it for the last 20 years."

Body-worn camera footage was also played to the jury showing Emmerson standing on a roof of a single-story building, with blood on his hands and on a cuff of his white top.

The court heard Emmerson had told a mental health professional he "thought he could hear the neighbours through the wall saying they wanted to kill him".

Jurors were told the 51-year-old had stopped taking his medication in the second week of July and had neither harmed himself nor spent time in a facility.

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