Amaurote
06-12-05, 03:34AM
Care-home killer, 82, mentally ill for decades
By Andrew Norfolk
A PSYCHOPATHIC woman used an ornamental iron to bludgeon to death a 93-year-old fellow resident at a care home for the elderly, a court was told yesterday.
May Thrower, 82, smashed the flat iron repeatedly into the face of Olive Garvie, fracturing her skull, breaking her nose, and shattering an eye socket. She later told police: “I didn’t hit her enough.”
It was later discovered that the 4ft 10in attacker had been suffering from a psychopathic illness for many years, but staff at the home did not know of her background because the medical records had been lost before she moved in.
Miss Garvie, who had moved to the home at Newcastle upon Tyne with her 91-year-old sister, was attacked in February 2004 after Thrower wandered into her room and took offence at being asked to leave. Newcastle Crown Court was told that that Miss Garvie was struck in the head at least 12 times and died three weeks later in hospital.
Thrower was charged with murder but the prosecution yesterday accepted her plea of guilty to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility. Judge David Hodson ordered that she be detained indefinitely in a secure hospital.
Toby Hedworth QC, for the prosecution, said the staff at Coniscliffe Residential Home, in the Jesmond area of Newcastle, had believed that Thrower was of sound mind. “Regrettably, how wrong that understanding turned out to be,” he said.
Records later revealed that she had spent 14 years in secure hospitals, including Rampton, during the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1995, aged 72, the spinster had been convicted of grievous bodily harm after using a chair leg to attack a woman in her 80s. She was put on probation.
Her assault on Miss Garvie happened in the early hours after Thrower, who could not sleep, had been walking around. When Miss Garvie was checked by staff at 2am, she was sitting up in bed, reading a book.
An hour later, a care assistant heard whimpering noises coming from her room. Inside, he found “the terrible sight of Miss Garvie kneeling on the floor with her body across the bed”, Mr Hedworth said. “The defendant was standing over her, within one foot of her, and her and the defendant’s hands were covered in blood. There was a great deal of blood on Miss Garvie and around the scene. Miss Garvie was crying for help.”
Thrower later told police that she had lost her temper when Miss Garvie tried to push her out of the room.
Margaret Garvie, the victim’s sister, said in a statement: “I have lost my best friend, my sister, the only thing that I have left.”
The judge said: “It is not for me to speculate why medical records or criminal history had not been passed on to the care home. No doubt there will be an inquiry as to what happened.
Times Online (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1648279,00.html)
http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/icnewcastle/jun2005/5/0/00027FCB-4B24-12A9-A3DE80BFB6FA0000.jpg
By Andrew Norfolk
A PSYCHOPATHIC woman used an ornamental iron to bludgeon to death a 93-year-old fellow resident at a care home for the elderly, a court was told yesterday.
May Thrower, 82, smashed the flat iron repeatedly into the face of Olive Garvie, fracturing her skull, breaking her nose, and shattering an eye socket. She later told police: “I didn’t hit her enough.”
It was later discovered that the 4ft 10in attacker had been suffering from a psychopathic illness for many years, but staff at the home did not know of her background because the medical records had been lost before she moved in.
Miss Garvie, who had moved to the home at Newcastle upon Tyne with her 91-year-old sister, was attacked in February 2004 after Thrower wandered into her room and took offence at being asked to leave. Newcastle Crown Court was told that that Miss Garvie was struck in the head at least 12 times and died three weeks later in hospital.
Thrower was charged with murder but the prosecution yesterday accepted her plea of guilty to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility. Judge David Hodson ordered that she be detained indefinitely in a secure hospital.
Toby Hedworth QC, for the prosecution, said the staff at Coniscliffe Residential Home, in the Jesmond area of Newcastle, had believed that Thrower was of sound mind. “Regrettably, how wrong that understanding turned out to be,” he said.
Records later revealed that she had spent 14 years in secure hospitals, including Rampton, during the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1995, aged 72, the spinster had been convicted of grievous bodily harm after using a chair leg to attack a woman in her 80s. She was put on probation.
Her assault on Miss Garvie happened in the early hours after Thrower, who could not sleep, had been walking around. When Miss Garvie was checked by staff at 2am, she was sitting up in bed, reading a book.
An hour later, a care assistant heard whimpering noises coming from her room. Inside, he found “the terrible sight of Miss Garvie kneeling on the floor with her body across the bed”, Mr Hedworth said. “The defendant was standing over her, within one foot of her, and her and the defendant’s hands were covered in blood. There was a great deal of blood on Miss Garvie and around the scene. Miss Garvie was crying for help.”
Thrower later told police that she had lost her temper when Miss Garvie tried to push her out of the room.
Margaret Garvie, the victim’s sister, said in a statement: “I have lost my best friend, my sister, the only thing that I have left.”
The judge said: “It is not for me to speculate why medical records or criminal history had not been passed on to the care home. No doubt there will be an inquiry as to what happened.
Times Online (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1648279,00.html)
http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/icnewcastle/jun2005/5/0/00027FCB-4B24-12A9-A3DE80BFB6FA0000.jpg