Stabbed to death for her kindness
Mum-to-be lets man who walked out of mental health unit stay with her – and he kills her with screwdriver
A schizophrenic stabbed an expectant mother to death just hours after he was able to walk out of a mental health unit.
ella parker, 29, was five months pregnant with her first child when she was ferociously set upon as she decorated her home in readiness for the new arrival.
The convenience store worker had let ryan Blacknell, who was a childhood friend of her brother, stay with her after he signed himself out of hospital two nights earlier, a court heard.
Yesterday a judge called for an investigation into how ‘this very sick man’ was able to walk out of the campbell centre mental health unit in Milton Keynes as he ordered Blacknell, 25, to be detained indefinitely at Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital.
Judge richard Foster said ‘it was because of that sickness that ella parker tragically lost her life’ and said the ‘tragic’ case ‘might have been avoidable’. The court heard that the hospital had been reluctant to admit Blacknell, only doing so at the insistence of his mother, who had contacted police and a mental health triage team after finding him ‘rambling about dinosaurs’ and holding a large knife at the flat they had shared. she also played medics a recording of Blacknell saying: ‘i know what happens in the afterlife. You know what happens.’
But Blacknell signed himself out of the unit because he believed other patients were going to eat him, the court heard, and headed to Miss parker’s home in Milton Keynes. Two mornings later, he stabbed the co-op worker 33 times around the head and neck with a screwdriver.
After changing his clothes, Blacknell then went drinking in two pubs, before visiting a friend at a local YMcA building to tell him: ‘everything is a bit mad at the moment. This is probably the last time you are going to see me.’
Miss parker’s body was found later that day by a friend who called around to help with the decorating.
Blacknell handed himself in to police the next morning, but was initially freed on bail, with a condition to reside at the campbell centre, by Thames Valley police.
Luton crown court heard the killer was re-arrested two days later following the results of a post-mortem examination, and charged with murder. officers said there was a ‘police safety plan’ in place during those two days.
But prosecutors accepted a guilty plea to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility after a psychiatrist concluded that Blacknell had been suffering from a psychotic illness at the time of Miss parker’s death, with an ‘ abnormality of mental functioning’.
Forensic psychologist seena Fazel, who had assessed Blacknell while on remand in Broadmoor, said he was suffering from ‘schizophrenia’ or a ‘schizo effective disorder’. Alan Blake, prosecuting, said Miss parker took pity on Blacknell after he left the campbell centre and allowed him to stay at her terraced home on the evening of December 5.
Miss parker, who lived with her brother, was attacked while painting her kitchen less than 48 hours later, after Blacknell returned from walking her dog.
earlier, she had sent a selfie to a friend saying ‘more paint on me than the ceiling’.
A final message was sent from her phone to the same friend at 11.45am. ccTV shows Blacknell leaving the property at 12.40pm.
A post-mortem examination found some of the 33 stab wounds went up to eight centimetres deep, with one cutting her carotid artery.
A red-handled screwdriver was found by the sink with the victim’s blood on it.
Andel singh, defending, offered no mitigation but said the role of the campbell centre in the events surrounding Miss parker’s death was a ‘troubling issue’.
he said there had been a reluctance to accept his client into the centre and it was only at the insistence of his mother that they had taken him in.
Mr singh said Blacknell ‘left the campbell centre because he felt the in-patients were going to eat him if he stayed another night’. Vivienne parker, a relative of Miss parker, told the court in an impact statement, that the victim’s ‘kind nature appeared to be her downfall’. she added: ‘(ella) had taken a killer into her home out of the goodness of her heart.
‘ella was looking forward to having a family of her own. she would have made a superb and proud mother.’
The court heard Tesco warehouseman Blacknell’s mental health had deteriorated since the summer of 2016, when he was the victim of an assault.
The attack saw him prescribed tablets for post-traumatic stress disorder. But in the weeks leading up to the killing, his mother, rosalind, saw a further decline and in early December, he threatened her while drinking and armed with a large knife. The judge was told that Blacknell’s previous job in an aerosol factory may also have triggered symptoms. Blacknell was sentenced under section 37 of the Mental health Act.
‘Last time you will see me’