Pregnant girlfriend killed by man

A paranoid schizophrenic has admitted killing his pregnant girlfriend more than a decade after the crime.

Richard Gray, now 50, was deemed unfit for trial after he strangled Virginia Sivil, 26, shortly before she gave birth to their third child in 1998.

Gray, originally from Corsham, Wiltshire, apologised to Miss Sivil's family after pleading guilty to manslaughter at Bristol Crown Court.

Miss Sivil and her unborn child died outside her home in Foxhill, Bath.

'Hospital order'

After spending 10 years in Broadmoor Hospital, doctors decided Gray was now fit enough to be able to enter a plea to any charges put before him.

On Friday, Gray's barrister, Angharad Mousley, told the court that had Gray "known the extent of his illness" he would have sought help sooner.

Mr Justice Mackay made a hospital order, sectioning Gray under the Mental Health Act 1983, at Broadmoor Hospital.

Previously an independent inquiry discovered mental health bosses failed to warn Miss Sivil that Gray had thought about killing her in the months leading up to her death.

The inquiry, in 2001, concluded that Wiltshire Health Authority and Wiltshire Social Services had committed a "catalogue of errors".

The report described how Miss Sivil had been a "stabilising influence" on Gray, who was admitted to psychiatric hospitals 13 times between 1985 and 1998.

Gray, who was 39 at the time of the killing, had used illegal drugs from the age of 12, and by the age of 18 had convictions for offences including burglary and rape.

'Labour pains'

But the report said Miss Sivil, who met Gray when she 18, 14 years his junior, was "aware of his background".

In February 1998, the pair were living apart.

She felt early labour pains and contacted Gray, who was driven to Bath by his parents.

The four watched television for a while before Miss Sivil said she wanted to go out for some air and went for a walk with Gray.

Gray returned 20 minutes later and told his father Geoffrey he had killed her.

In March 1999, Gray was found unfit to plead at Bristol Crown Court.