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Finally some news. It’ll be interesting to read more after sentencing.
GUILTY UK - Brenda Blainey, 88, murdered, Thornton-le-Dale, North Yorkshire, 5 Jan 2022 *Arrest*
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Shahin Darvish-Narenjbon, 34, admitted being responsible for the death of Brenda Blainey, 88, who was found strangled, stabbed and beaten at The Grove in Thornton-le-Dale, near Pickering, in January 2022.
He appeared at Leeds Crown Court today (Jan 30) for sentencing, but this was adjourned until Wednesday (Feb 1) to allow Judge Rodney Jameson KC to consider medical evidence.
The court was told the Iranian national had come to the UK at the age of 15 to study, but his permission to remain in the country lapsed in 2015 and his application for asylum had been refused.
While a civil engineering student at the University of Leeds, he worked as a waiter in a Carluccio’s restaurant in the city centre and met Mrs Blainey, a mother of two daughters, when she ate there as a customer in 2013. They developed a ‘grandmother and grandson’ relationship and she eventually offered him a bedroom and office in her cottage, ‘food and home comforts’ and the use of a car. For the next few years, he moved between her address and his house in Cookridge, Leeds. In 2020, he registered an architectural engineering business at The Grove.
The court heard he had a long history of mental illness and was ‘acutely psychotic’ when he attacked Mrs Blainey as she placed a telephone order for groceries from her local shop. She had been strangled and her head struck against the kitchen floor, causing her to lose consciousness before her jugular vein was slit and she was stabbed in the chest.
Darvish-Narenjbon called 999 and initially said he had found his ‘grandmother’ injured in the house after hearing banging noises and cars driving away, implying that others had been responsible. He had thoroughly cleaned the 20cm kitchen knife thought to be the weapon used, and even asked a police officer for a glass of water before he was arrested.
He was charged with murder but a guilty plea to manslaughter by diminished responsibility was accepted. He has been held in a secure hospital since his arrest and now accepts that he intentionally killed Mrs Blainey when he was experiencing hallucinations and delusions and heard voices telling him to harm her.
The court was told he first showed signs of psychosis in 2008, and was even hospitalised in the US while a visiting student at prestigious Penn State University. A girlfriend noticed that in 2016 his mental state had deteriorated, and he lost his temper and damaged a door on one occasion. Mrs Blainey attended Darvish-Narenjbon’s Masters graduation ceremony, but by 2022 her health had declined and she was frail and showing signs of dementia.
The court heard that Darvish-Narenjbon was thought to have been in Thornton-le-Dale from January 3, as CCTV showed him buying alcohol in the village shop, and Mrs Blainey was killed two days later after she had laid the table for breakfast.
Psychiatrist Dr James Stoddart told the court that Darvish-Narenjbon likely felt ‘there was a conspiracy against him’ when he killed Mrs Blainey, and that he had a history of self-reducing his medication. He added that Darvish-Narenjbon remained ‘high risk’ despite responding to treatment.
Obviously I'm no professional, but these cases where the murderer cleans up and tells lies makes me really question these insanity defences. Losing his temper and damaging a door doesn't sound particularly psychotic, it sounds violent and angry.
"Likely felt there was a conspiracy against him"??
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More details about the nature of their relationship and his mental state in his article. It is a puzzling case.
Young man slashed surrogate grandmother's throat in sleepy village
Shahin Darvish-Narenjbon had stayed with Brenda Blainey at her home after first meeting her while working at a restaurant in 2015
www.examinerlive.co.uk
(…)
Darvish-Narenjbon was charged with murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter by dimished responsibility. He said he continues to suffer psychotic symptoms and was suffering from the symptoms of schizophrenia. Mr Lumley said: "He killed her so in some part because of voices in his head. A psychiatrist says he was suffering symptoms of schizophenia and was out of touch with reality and hearing voices.
"It has affected him for many years since 2008. Dr Kent speaks of delusions and hallucinations telling him to kill and that newspaper of TV items concern him or are about him and ordinary events have hidden meanings. The [three] doctors agree he was suffering an abnormality of the mind caused by schizophrenia."
The court was told Darvish-Narenjbon was born in Tehran and had lived in the UK since being 15-years-old. He had spent time in the US where he was treated at a psychiatric hospital in 2008. Mr Lumley said in 2015 he was refused asylumn. He said his relationship with Mrs Blainey "was characterised by others as a grandmother and grandson relationship." He added: "She would call him and send him messages wanting to know where he was and what he was doing. She was found to exercise some control over his life. When he didn't stay with her, he would text her saying 'goodnight'.
"There was some tension between Brenda Blainey and his mother and girlfriend. Towards the end of her life she was becoming frail and her memory was fading but she was managing to live freely in her family home."
The court heard Darvish-Narenjbon called 999 and told the call handler: "I just came downstairs and found my grandmother on the hard floor. She's got blood everywhere and I don't know." He told the handler what medication he was taking and said "other people must have had a key to the house." Mr Lumley said he spoke of seeing a grey and red drive away.
When he was taken to a police station, the court heard Darvish-Narenjbon told a nurse he had stopped taking his antipsychotic medication a few days earlier. Mr Lumley said: "He spoke of looking after Brenda Blainey because of her dementia and he had had trouble sleeping in recent days." The nurse determined he was not fit for interview.
Mr Lumley said a forensic scientist who visited the scene and found 13 knives kept in the kitchen. He said: "Each of which [the knives] could have been used to cause the stab wounds." Evidence from Mrs Blainey's clothes suggested the knife used in the attack was 20cm in length. The prosecutor said the knife had been cleaned.
The court heard from forensic psychiatrist Dr James Stoddard who was one of three doctors who had provided a report for the proceedings. He spoke of Darvish-Narenjbon's delusions and said: "There was an issue with a red button on the TV which came up with a licence he believed was a licence to harm and kill Brenda Blainey.
Dr Stoddart said Darvish-Narenjbon had delusions in relation to car registrations and colours in terms of who was driving them or who was involved with them. The court heard he has been remanded since May last year at Ramptom Hospital - one of three high security specialist hospitals in England and Wales. Dr Stoddard described Darvish-Narenjbon as "extremely disordered" when he first met him.
He said: "There was clearly a deterioration in his mental health for a period of time. I think he was scared about things, worried about the intentions of others and had these very bizarre delusions of him pressing a red button and the events which occurred. These are very significant."
The doctor said Darvish-Narenjbon is "very likely" to relapse if he came off his medication. Judge Rodney Jameson KC will sentence on Wednesday, February 1.
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I couldn't see it, is it the right article? Maybe it's just me though.More details about the nature of their relationship and his mental state in his article. It is a puzzling case.
Young man slashed surrogate grandmother's throat in sleepy village
Shahin Darvish-Narenjbon had stayed with Brenda Blainey at her home after first meeting her while working at a restaurant in 2015www.examinerlive.co.uk
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Sorry, I first linked an old article by mistake but have rectified it sinceThat's weird, the article in my quote is different from the one in yours
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Mostly the same info reported in this article, highlighting some perplexities from the judge however:
“When judge Rodney Jameson questioned whether such a delusional man could have had the forethought to clean a weapon and the rationale to give a false account to police, Dr Stockard said this may all be part of Darvish-Narenjbon’s mental instability.
He said that Darvish-Narenjbon may have believed he was ‘authorised’ or ‘had a licence’ to carry out the killing because of the voices in his head.”
It might just be selective reporting, but it feels somewhat uncomfortable to hear the prosecutor saying things like:
“She would frequently telephone him and send him letters wondering where he was and what he was up to. She exerted some control in the way he lived his life.”(…)
Covert victim blaming springs to mind…
"May" all be part of his instability - doesn't sound very emphatic does it. Still doesn't explain him knowing what he did was wrong and hiding it. Unless by instability he means being delusional one minute and totally lucid the next. I would have felt more comfortable with a definite statement by the doctor.Mostly the same info reported in this article, highlighting some perplexities from the judge however:
“When judge Rodney Jameson questioned whether such a delusional man could have had the forethought to clean a weapon and the rationale to give a false account to police, Dr Stockard said this may all be part of Darvish-Narenjbon’s mental instability.
He said that Darvish-Narenjbon may have believed he was ‘authorised’ or ‘had a licence’ to carry out the killing because of the voices in his head.”
It might just be selective reporting, but it feels somewhat uncomfortable to hear the prosecutor saying things like:
“She would frequently telephone him and send him letters wondering where he was and what he was up to. She exerted some control in the way he lived his life.”(…)
Covert victim blaming springs to mind…
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Killer to remain in hospital after court rules he is a 'danger to the public'
A failed asylum seeker has been retained indefinitely at a top security psychiatric hospital after a court ruled he was a 'danger to the public…
A failed asylum seeker has been retained indefinitely at a top security psychiatric hospital after a court ruled he was a 'danger to the public' after killing a pensioner.
Judge Rodney Jameson said that while Shahin Darvish-Narenjbon, 35, remained responsible for the brutal death of Brenda Blainey at her home in Thornton-le-Dale, the danger he posed to the public was serious and was potentially lifelong.
Darvish-Narenjbon received a mental health restriction order and hospital order at Leeds Crown Court today (February 1) after pleading guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility for killing Mrs Blainey.
The court heard Darvish-Narenjbon had brutally killed Mrs Blainey with a kitchen knife during a psychotic incident while she was on the phone making a grocery order.
Judge Jameson described Mrs Blainey as frail and suffering from the early stages of dementia.
"You killed her in her own home using a kitchen knife with extreme violence and have never given any clear account of what you did."
"After killing Mrs Blainey you cleaned the knife so thoroughly it was difficult to identify the one you had used. You then called 999 claiming to have seen two cars leaving from outside the house.
"You were arrested but it was clear you were having a psychotic episode and were not fit for interviewing."
Judge Jameson said Mrs Blainey had suffered injuries to her head after Darvish-Narenjbon banged her head before cutting her throat, slapping her face and stabbing her chest.
The Iranian-born was originally charged with Mrs Blainey’s murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
The court was told that a number of reports had been submitted by forensic psychiatrists which concluded Darvish-Narenjbon was suffering a severe mental illness at the time of the killing.
He believed he had been authorised to kill Mrs Blainey as forces raged against him resulting in the need to protect himself.
Judge Jameson said despite this Darvish-Narenjbon remained responsible for the dreadful and brutal way he had killed Mrs Blainey and the grief and suffering caused to her friends and family.
Darvish-Narenjbon had come to the UK from Iran when he was 15 and in 2008 went to America where he showed the first signs of mental illness and was admitted to an institution for treatment.
He later returned to this country and met Mrs Blainey who had taken a kindly interest in him and had invited him to visit her in her home.
By 2015, when his permission to remain in the country ran out, he was visiting her regularly and she had turned one of her rooms into his bedroom. She also gave him a study, food, and the use of a car.
Darvish-Narenjbon then applied for asylum, but that was refused, as was his appeal against the decision.
In 2016, he damaged a door in her home in an argument with her when his mental state deteriorated and in 2020, he set up a limited company using her home as its registered address.
On January 5 2022 he had then killed Mrs Blainey who has been described as a 'grandmother' to him in her own home.
North Yorkshire Police Acting Detective Superintendent, Graeme Wright, said: “This is an incredibly tragic incident in which Brenda lost her life after showing immense kindness to a young man who she identified was in need of support.
“Brenda was well-known in the local community for her compassion in helping people and had taken Darvish-Narenjbon into her home, giving him a place to live and treating him as a member of her family.
“Our thoughts and condolences are with Brenda’s family and I hope that the conclusion of this case today can give them some closure.”
A restraining order preventing contact with Mrs Blainey’s family indefinitely was also imposed and Darvish-Narenjbon will be deported to Iran if he is ever deemed fit for release.
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Failed asylum seeker who killed woman in Yorkshire village is detained
The 34-year-old killed the pensioner in an act of appalling brutality at her home last year
www.examinerlive.co.uk
Some more quotes from the judge in this article:
(…) Sentencing him, the judge said three consultant forensic psychiatrists agreed that Darvish-Narenjbon has schizophrenia and his "retained responsibility" for the killing was "low".
He told him: "I want to make it clear both to you and to the family of Brenda Blainey that this is not to say that your responsibility is extinguished, it is not.” (…)
It was said Darvish-Narenjbon will not "presently considered for deportation" due to "the situation in Iran." The judge said he will be detained at Rampton without limit of time. He was also made the subject of an indefinite restraining order.
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