Thornton-le-Dale: Woman, 88, killed by failed asylum seeker, court told

A failed asylum seeker killed an 88-year-old woman he described as his "surrogate grandmother" at her home in North Yorkshire, a court has heard.

The body of Brenda Blainey was found at the property on High Street in Thornton-le-Dale on 5 January 2022.

Leeds Crown Court heard Shahin Darvish-Narenjbon had met Mrs Blainey while he worked in a restaurant and she offered him a place to stay while he studied.

Darvish-Narenjbon admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

The court heard the Iranian national had come to the UK aged 15 in order to study, with his permission to remain in the country coming to an end in 2015.

His application for asylum was unsuccessful, as was his appeal against the refusal to allow him to stay.

The hearing was told Darvish-Narenjbon had worked as a waiter in Carluccio's restaurant in Leeds in 2013 and that was where he had met customer Mrs Blainey.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC told the hearing Mrs Blainey offered him a room he could use in her house while he studied for a Masters and they developed a "grandmother-grandson" relationship.

Mr Lumley said: "Towards the end of her life, Mrs Blainey was becoming increasingly frail and her memory was failing, but she managed to live independently."

Darvish-Narenjbon had been affected by schizophrenia since 2008 and told a nurse he had stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication before he killed Mrs Blainey, the hearing was told.

Mrs Blainey was on the phone to a local grocery shop on 5 January 2022 when the call ended abruptly and she could not be contacted again despite 12 further calls by the concerned shopkeeper, the court heard.

The sentencing hearing was told Mrs Blainey was strangled, stabbed and her head struck the kitchen floor during the attack.

The court heard Darvish-Narenjbon would be deported if he was ever released from a secure hospital or prison.

Judge Rodney Jameson KC said he would sentence Darvish-Narenjbon on Wednesday.

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