Man who tried to sever ex-girlfriend's head detained

Claire Marshall was found dead at her home in Millom

A man who almost severed his ex-partner's head in front of her children has been detained indefinitely.

Benjamin Cooper, 35, killed Claire Marshall, 35, by hacking at her throat with a kitchen knife in her home in Millom, Cumbria, in January last year.

The "savage attack", motivated by psychotic delusions that she was plotting to kill him, was witnessed by two of her three daughters.

He earlier admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Mr Justice Nicol, sentencing Cooper at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday, said: "Without warning or any objective reason you jumped on Claire, you beat her, you began to stab her with a penknife and then took a larger knife and inflicted more serious blows to her head and neck.

The court heard Cooper had a mental disorder

"I can only conclude you were trying to sever her head from her body. You very nearly succeeded.

"Your act of savagery robbed [Miss Marshall's daughters] of their mother and has left them with mental scars which will stay with them for a very long time."

Police and paramedics were called to the scene in January 2009 but Miss Marshall had already died from 41 stab wounds inflicted to her head, neck and arms.

The blood-soaked defendant left the scene before the emergency services arrived and drove to the home of his stepfather, Gerald Fern, and attempted to kill him with a meat cleaver.

Cooper, of Wellington Street, Millom, also admitted attempted murder at the earlier hearing on 8 February.

The court was told he was suffering from a severe mental psychosis in which he believed that his ex-partner had been recruited to kill him as part of a wider conspiracy.

Secure hospital

He also had the deluded belief that his 65-year-old stepfather was involved in the same plot.

The court heard evidence that his "gross delusions" began following the death of his mother in 2006 and the prosecution claimed his psychosis was stimulated by the heavy use of amphetamines.

Cooper was sentenced to a minimum of six years for public protection before he is entitled to apply to the Parole Board for release.

He will serve his sentence in a secure hospital under close psychiatric supervision but may be transferred to prison if his mental condition improves.

In 1994, Miss Marshall's mother Marjorie was fatally stabbed 30 times with a kitchen knife by her son John at the family home in Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

John and Claire had both been adopted by the couple.

John Marshall admitted manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility but was not jailed after his father Jim said he had forgiven his son and pleaded to the judge for mercy.