Grandson slit his 94-year-old gran’s throat at care home

He ‘couldn’t take’ decline from dementia

A 94-YEAR- OLD dementia patient’s throat was slit by her grandson in a care home before he announced he ‘just couldn’t take it any more’, a court heard yesterday.

Ruby Wilson was sitting having tea with Antony Jennings, 33, when he took out an eight-inch breakfast knife and killed her.

He then tapped a nurse on the arm and told her: ‘ I’m sorry, I’ve just killed my nan.’

His responsibility for the brutal death at Forest Place Nursing Home in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, is not disputed, a jury was told.

But while Jennings has pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility, he denies murder.

Evaluations by psychiatrists since Mrs Wilson’s death have shown her grandson had paranoid schizophrenia with elements of psychosis, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Stephen Rose QC said: ‘ The defendant, Mr Jennings, accepts that he killed Ruby Wilson – there is no dispute about that.

‘But he denies he is guilty of murder on the belief that he is only guilty of manslaughter by reason of something called diminished responsibility Antony Jennings and Ruby Wilson … the prosecution do not accept that this is a case of diminished responsibility. The prosecution say this is a case of murder.’

Jennings showed no emotion as the jury were told about the events of November 29 last year.

The court heard he had signed the visitors’ book at the home, where his grandmother had lived for seven months, just before they had tea.

Staff said she had ‘seemed pleased to see her grandson’ before he slashed her with the knife as she sat in an armchair.

After he told the nurse he had killed her, she asked if he was serious, to which he replied: ‘I’m not joking.’

Police arrived to find Jennings pacing up and down a corridor, covered in blood. Mr Rose said: ‘There is no dispute this male was the defendant Antony Jennings.

‘He said something along the lines of, “I just couldn’t take it any more. She doesn’t know who anyone is. She doesn’t understand. I killed her, I just cut her throat and killed her.”’

As Jennings, of Ilford, east London, was led away he allegedly told an officer: ‘I just wanted to get that done for ages, mate. She was dead anyway.’

The court was told that greatgrandmother Mrs Wilson – a retired dressmaker whose husband of 70 years, Leslie, was living in another care home – suffered periods of confusion but was well cared for and enjoyed visits from her family, including her daughter.

‘It was a very difficult situation and staff were dealing with a lady with a tragic medical condition,’ Mr Rose added. ‘But on the face of it she was cared for, loved and visited by a close member of family.’

Dorian Lovell-Pank QC, defending, told the jury his client, who was flanked by hospital staff in the dock, was ‘deeply disturbed’ and had been unwell for months before the killing.

Forest Place is in an upmarket area in London’s outskirts where houses sell for £1million. It cares for dementia patients and people with physical disabilities and offers palliative care.

The case continues.