Loving grandmother stabbed to death by grandson after he played violent video game
A loving grandmother was stabbed to death by her own grandson after he spent hours playing violent video game Call of Duty, a court has heard.
Kyle Ellis, 26, attacked 69-year-old Susan Hannaby with two knives - before trying to set her body on fire using a kitchen stove.
Ellis lived with Mrs Hannaby but attacked her while suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
Prosecutor Anna Pope said in the days before the attack, Ellis who was known to smoke cannabis, had played war-game Call of Duty late into the night.
Miss Pope said after getting home at around midnight, Ellis launched the horrific attack on his grandmother where he beat her and stabbed her with kitchen knives.
She added: "She had bruising to her head and body including a fractured cheek bone.
"He strangled her and a dressing gown cord was found close to her body."
Miss Pope said Mrs Hannaby had suffered "slash and stab" wounds and Ellis left two knives in her body before trying to set her on fire.
She said: "He sought to set fire to her body by putting her up on the hob and piling combustible materials around her."
Mold Crown Court heard that Ellis had disabled two smoke alarms in the house before phoning his father to tell him there was a blaze.
Firefighters and police arrived to find Mrs Hannaby dead and arrested Ellis on suspicion of murder.
Ellis, of Ruabon, admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility in relation to the attack on 11 February, last year.Judge Rhys Rowlands said Ellis and Mrs Hannaby "were close" telling the defendant, "by your own account she and your grandfather spoiled you rotten from the age of 14".
He told Ellis: "This was a brutal and sustained attack. You were living with your grandmother - she was 69 years old and suffering from ill health.
"Whilst the two of you were alone you attacked her - a neighbour heard screams shortly after midnight and not long after you rang your father to tell him there was a fire.
"You punched her repeatedly causing fractures and bruising to her face and body. You also strangled her seemingly with the cord from the dressing gown.
"You also stabbed her to her face and chest before trying to set fire to her body by placing it on the hob of the oven."
Expert psychiatrists found Ellis was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack.
Judge Rowlands said: "Whilst in the past you have taken illicit drugs it is unlikely they would have contributed in any appreciable degree to killing your grandmother.
"Your psychosis is really the only credible explanation for your explosive loss of control and killing someone who was close to you and had been good to you in the past."
He added: "It is plain that you would not have committed this dreadful crime were it not for your very severe mental illness."
Ellis was handed a hospital order under sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act.
He will only be freed when doctors and the Ministry of Justice agree he is no longer a threat to the public.