Barnstaple man jailed for life for killing his mother

A Big Issue seller from Barnstaple has been jailed for life for killing his mother - whom he blamed for squandering a £75,000 inheritance.

Exeter Crown Court heard that 59-year-old Valerie Davison was punched in the head and body and then stabbed in the neck, during an argument about drugs and money. Her body was left under a blanket on the sofa of her flat, where it was found two weeks later by a concerned care worker.

Her son Charles Davison, 39, denied murder, but changed his plea on the seventh day of his trial. He will serve a minimum term of 19 years.

His defence lawyer said Davison had finally been able to admit the killing to himself after listening to the evidence against him. She said he was 'not himself' at the time of the killing, and clearly in need of psychiatric help.