Killer librarian given probation

Killer librarian given probation

The judge said Key was "no risk" to anyone else

A former librarian who killed his mother in Merseyside has been put on probation for three years.

Malcolm Key was suffering "distorted and delusional" thoughts when he suffocated his 79-year-old mother, Joan, Liverpool Crown Court had heard.

Key, 50, from Wirral, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, at a hearing in January.

The court was told he was suffering from severe depression when he carried out the killing at the home he shared with Mrs Key in Eversley Park, Oxton.

Judge David Clarke QC spared him a jail sentence last month when he told Key his behaviour was down to "distorted and delusional" thoughts.

[The] killing can only be explained by looking at what was in your head

Judge David Clarke QC

The court heard Key used a pillow to suffocate his mother in August last year.

He then tried to kill himself but failed and was arrested the following day.

Key immediately confessed to the killing and told police he feared his welfare benefits would be stopped or he would be sent to jail.

The 50-year-old believed he would be unable to continue looking after his mother and the only solution was to kill her and himself.

David Aubrey QC, defending, described it as a "tragic case".

'Exceptional case'

Judge Clarke, Recorder of Liverpool, said on Friday he was satisfied from psychiatric evidence Key's level of responsibility was low and he was not a risk to anyone else.

At a hearing last month, he told Key: "Your life had been devoted for some years to caring for your mother.

"Her killing can only be explained by looking at what was in your head.

"I regard this as a most exceptional and unusual case...and the recognition and memory of what you did...will be a permanent and lasting punishment."