Former detective jailed for murder of mother, 88

A RETIRED detective driven by hatred to smother his elderly and frail mother has been jailed for a minimum of 14 years.

Stephen Green, 66, was unable to wait any longer for his 88-yearold mother Bernadette to die so he murdered her at their family home in Preston, Lancashire, on May 18.

Green convinced authorities his mother died of old age, but a coroner’s officer noted Mrs Green had not seen a doctor since October 2013 – and a closer examination of her emaciated body revealed a number of pressure sores.

A post-mortem was ordered and concluded Mrs Green had been smothered and that an extensive area of rotting blackened skin around her buttocks was evidence of “severe neglect”.

Green’s motive for the killing was then uncovered in a series of text messages he sent to his daughter, Preston Crown Court heard, in which he said he wished she would die.

Prosecutor Francis McEntree said Green had portrayed himself to neighbours in Inkerman Street, Preston, as a “caring and attentive son”, but in reality he was full of animosity for his mother who he saw as a burden.

The former CID officer with Lancashire Constabulary denied neglecting or smothering her and suggested she died of old age or accidental suffocation.

A jury found him guilty of murder. Giving a life sentence to Green, Judge Mark Brown, the Recorder of Preston, told him: “There is no doubt in my mind that during the last few weeks of her life she (Mrs Green) was severely neglected. The only explanation for such neglect is that you hoped to hasten her decline.”