Son killed his mother with Samurai sword

A paranoid schizophrenic tried to decapitate his mother with a Samurai sword before hiding her body in the greenhouse of their home, a court heard yesterday.

Tarron Waterman struck Teresa Botwright three times with the sword as she prepared his dinner in the kitchen of the home they shared in Station Road, Corton, near Lowestoft, last December.

He then dragged her body to the greenhouse, piled rugs on top of it and placed a carving knife in her bloodied right hand, before leaving the scene.

Yesterday, at Ipswich Crown Court, the 21-year-old was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Rosamund Horwood-Smart, prosecuting, said: "On the afternoon of December 14, the defendant was seen close to the house, standing still as if in a trance looking up to the sky and making very strange remarks.

"His mother, that evening, had gone out to spend time with friends.

"She did not go home to cook for herself and her son until 11.30pm.

"At about that time people near to the house heard the sound of an argument coming from the direction of the house.

"From the scene in the kitchen it was clear his mother made tea, the microwave had been used and there were signs of two meals yet to be eaten.

"He had come into the kitchen with one of a set of three Samurai swords, given to him as a gift by his girlfriend the previous December.

"He delivered three blows to his mother's neck, two to the front and one to the back."

Ms Horwood-Smart said that a neighbour had seen the pile of rugs Ms Botwright's body had been hidden under the following morning, but had not considered it suspicious.

It was not until later that day that Ms Botright's father made the gruesome discovery and alerted police.

Officers examining the house found a book of drawings by Waterman in his bedroom, open at a page showing a decapitation, which he had signed.

David Etherington, mitigating, said: "It is obviously an enormous understatement to say this is a sad and tragic case.

"He was seriously mentally ill at the time of the attack.

"It is plain now he has received treatment for his mental health he is a frightened, shy, polite and bewildered young man."

Passing sentence, Judge John Devaux said: "You admit three blows going deep into the tissue of her neck. You removed the body. You made a crude attempt to clean the area where you had assaulted her.

"You placed a knife in her hand, whether to suggest self-defence on your part or whether to suggest she had inflicted the wounds on herself it does not matter.

"At the time you were suffering from an abnormality of mind, namely paranoid schizophrenia. I am satisfied that you continue to suffer from that illness."

Waterman was made the subject of a restricting order under the mental health act and told he could only be released if the home secretary or the Mental Health Review Tribunal Panel was satisfied he was no longer a danger to the public.