Ex-Winchester mayor told police he killed his mother, court hears

A former mayor told police he smothered his 92-year-old mother with a cushion, a court has heard.

David McLean, 72, is charged with attempting to murder his terminally ill mother Margaret at her home in Waltham Chase, Hampshire, on 6 October 2022.

The jury was shown police body-worn camera footage from the scene in which the former Winchester mayor said he could not watch her approaching death.

She died at about the time of the incident, Winchester Crown Court heard.

Armed police were called to the address after Mr McLean made an NHS 111 call, the jury heard.

In the footage shown in court, the former mayor was asked by an officer what he had told the NHS operator.

The defendant replied: "I said I had passed my mother into the next world with the black cushion which is somewhere over there.

"I put it over her face because she was drowning.

"I couldn't watch her die. Have any of you watched your mother die?"

Asked whether he had killed his mother, Mr McLean replied: "Yes I did."

Previously, prosecutors said Mrs McLean was expected to "pass away imminently" from several medical conditions and her son was not charged with causing her death.

Her body was found by police in the early hours of 7 October.

On Monday, the judge, Mrs Justice McGowan, told the jurors: "It is pure coincidence that there is a debate in the House of Commons today on assisted dying and assisted suicide.

"This is not what this case is about and this will have no impact on this case at all."

Mr McLean, of Morley Drive, Bishop's Waltham, denies the charge and the trial continues.

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