Man who stabbed mother to death outside family home given life sentence

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails

Sign up to our free breaking news emails

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

A schizophrenic man who stabbed his mother to death outside their family home after he had delusions that she was the leader of a war tribe has been handed a life sentence subject to a hospital order.

The court was told that Gregor Bauld, who was 22 years old when he killed Christine Bauld, also known as Tina, was a regular user of illegal drugs and believed that his mother was an “alien” and a “paedophile”.

A jury had been shown CCTV footage of Bauld chasing his mother out of their four-bedroom detached house in The Coppice in Burbage, Leicestershire, with a kitchen knife before launching a frenzied attack on her on March 3 following an argument about his drug use.

Bauld, now 23, was cleared of murder by the jury after a three-week trial but he admitted the manslaughter of his 55-year-old mother on the grounds of diminished responsibility on the first day of the trial.

The defendant appeared in the dock at Leicester Crown Court on Friday wearing a black zip-up hoodie and did not react as he was given a hybrid order with a minimum term in custody of 13 years and eight months.

Mary Prior KC, defending Bauld, said: “This is a man who was very seriously mentally ill. He believed – genuinely – that the world was at war with two tribes and the woman he loved most in the world throughout his life had become the leader of one of those tribes and was abusing him.

“His level of schizophrenia was very high and remains very high. He still presents a danger to himself, to other prisoners, and to anyone who he comes into connection with, even with that high level of supervision and high level of medical care.

“He had a history of mental health difficulties which arose whether he had taken drugs or not. It is right and fair to say he took drugs – quite how much that impacted on what occurred cannot be clear in our submission.”

The barrister added that Bauld had “untreated and undiagnosed” schizophrenia since “at least 2022”.

The jury was told in the trial that Bauld had been in the “grip of a destructive cycle of drug abuse” and samples taken of his blood and urine contained traces of drugs including ketamine and LSD.

Prosecution barrister Gordon Aspden KC said: “There was abundant evidence of prolonged and persistent use of illegal drugs which would have a significant impact on his mental health.

“The defendant was aware of the effects those drugs could have on his behaviour having been previously sectioned. Nonetheless, he chose to use those drugs running up to the killing of his mother. He made choices in this case.”

The court was told Mrs Bauld sustained four separate stab wounds on the morning of the attack and a pathologist determined her cause of death as a wound to the back.

Sentencing the defendant, Judge Timothy Spencer KC said: “This killing was awful beyond imagination. It was a brutal, shocking taking of life.

“Your mother died in the road outside your house, and her house, with your father next to her as life expired with you watching on.

“The impact of this killing of your mother is described rightly by the prosecution as incalculable.

“You must have been aware that your drug abuse was a factor in your mental health difficulties but you continued to take drugs.”