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Man cut off flatmate's head

A paranoid schizophrenic killed his flatmate and cut off his head in a frenzied attack after suffering from delusions that he was being persecuted, a court heard today.

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CPS releases statement after sentencing

The Crown Prosecution Service has given its reaction to the sentencing of 30-year-old Karl Addo for the manslaughter of 23-year-old Sergio Marquez.

Addo was sentenced today at Bournemouth Crown Court to life imprisonment with a minimum term of six and half years.

He also received an indefinite restriction under Section 41 of the Mental Health Act with a referral to Broadmoor Hospital, after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Sergio Marquez, 23, on the grounds of diminished responsibility, on 2 December at Bournemouth Crown Court.

Sergio Marquez died as a result of a horrific and frenzied attack by his flatmate Karl Addo on 17th July 2012, during which a meat cleaver and knives were used. Karl Addo had been suffering from mental illness for several years, and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. At the time of the attack on Mr Marquez he was suffering from the delusional but fixed belief that he was being followed, assaulted and injected with drugs by gangs, and that members of the gang (possibly including Mr. Marquez) were planning to kill him."

– Tessa Hingston, Crown Advocate for the Crown Prosecution Service

Ms Hingston said ,edical experts who had been treating Addo in a secure mental hospital while he was waiting for his trial agreed that he had only recently become sufficiently lucid to be fit to plead, although he remained extremely delusional.

The trial was listed to start on Monday, and the defence informed us that Mr Addo would plead guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The proposed plea was carefully considered, and in the light of evidence from psychiatrists that Karl Addo’s responsibility for his actions would have been substantially reduced by his severe mental illness at the relevant time, the plea was accepted."

– Tessa Hingston
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Man cut off flatmate's head

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