Man locked up after beating his care home neighbour, 93, to death in 'wicked' attack

A care home resident who beat a 93-year-old grandmother-of-five to death, leaving her "unrecognisable" has been locked up in hospital indefinitely.

Alexander Rawson, 63, used a crutch to attack “kind and caring” Eileen Dean who lived in the bedroom next to his Fieldside in Catford on January 3.

Mrs Dean, who had been self-isolating with Covid-19, suffered multiple fractures to facial bones and traumatic brain injury. She died in hospital.

Immediately after the attack, Rawson phoned 999 in a state of distress and agitation, and said: “I think somebody’s been killed and I don’t know what’s happening.”

Rawson, who suffers a degenerative brain condition commonly associated with alcohol abuse, was found unfit to stand trial for murder.

The court heard how Rawson had moved into the bedroom next door to Mrs Dean in late December last year. He had been previously detained under the Mental Health Act and been an in-patient at two south London hospitals since last July.

Following a trial of the facts at the Old Bailey, he was found by a jury to have attacked and killed Mrs Dean.

On Monday, Mrs Dean’s daughter Georgina Hampshaw wept as she told the court she felt “let down” by social services and the care home.

Reading a victim impact statement, Mrs Hampshaw described her mother as a kind, cheerful and energetic lady who “never lost her sense of humour”.

In her prime, Mrs Dean had loved music halls, where she met her late husband Charlie, and her “party piece” was the Charleston dance, the court heard.

Following the attack, Mrs Hampshaw told the court the mother-of-three had been left almost unrecognisable.

Mrs Hampshaw struggled to understand how “such a wicked and callous crime had happened to her – especially committed in a care home where I thought she was safe and being cared for and protected”.

She added: “My mum’s life should never have ended this way.”

Judge Alexia Durran handed Rawson a hospital order without limit of time.

The judge said he posed an ongoing threat to the public, citing his threats of violence with a butter knife, scissors and walking stick.