Woman stabbed mother to death after writing diary entries about ‘dark thoughts,’ court told

The woman stabbed her mother to death in front of her grandmother

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A woman stabbed her mother to death in front of her 90-year-old grandmother after writing diary entries about “dark thoughts” and googling “Will God forgive me?,” a court heard.

Jessica Crane, 50, is accused of murdering 69-year-old Janet Mason by stabbing her through the back with a kitchen knife before later saying to police: “What have I done?”

A court heard emergency services were called to the defendant’s grandmother’s address in Green Lane, Worcester, at around 10.45am on 9 March last year.

Ms Mason was found in the lounge, face-down with her head on the cushion of an armchair and her knees on the floor surrounded by blood.

Crane’s grandmother Edith Cockell, 90, was in the house at the time and described hearing a scream before her daughter came into the living room saying “get an ambulance”.

Ms Mason, who had been at the property to clean for her mother, collapsed on the chair where she was found by police.

Efforts were made to save her by officers and paramedics but she was pronounced dead at 11.15am.

Jurors were told Crane had plunged the carving knife into her mother’s back and through her heart following a “fallout”.

Opening the case, Richard Atkins QC, prosecuting, told Worcester Crown Court it was Crane who called 999 telling call handlers she had just attacked her mother.

He said: “She said on the call she was not well. She said she had stabbed her mother and she thought her mother was dead.”

Mr Atkins showed jurors the knife, still strained with blood, and described it as being 30cm in length with a 25cm blade.

He added: “She had plunged that knife into her mother’s back, through her ribcage, through her heart to a depth of 20.5cm - that’s eight inches in old money - which was fatal.

“She intended to cause her mother, at the very least, serious injury and, in all likelihood intended in that moment to kill her.

“What else could you intend if you plunge a large knife in someone’s back to that depth?”

Mr Atkins said four fifths of the blade went into Ms Mason’s back and that a rib was also damaged by the blade.

He added: “This was not a gentle stab. This required considerable force.

“She did not see this attack coming. She was stabbed in the back. She was unarmed. She was defenceless.”

The court heard officers arrived at the address to find Crane outside the property holding her hands out in front of her which were covered in blood.

Crane told officers she had “a fall out with my mum - I have attacked her with a knife”.

Mr Atkins said Crane told officers the knife was in the kitchen but it was instead found it in the shrubbery in the back garden of the house.

Crane’s phone, seized by police, revealed searches including “how to end your life”, “what causes carbon monoxide poisoning at home?”, “strong rope”, “will God forgive me?” and “how do people commit suicide in prison”.

Her notebooks were also seized. One entry read: “Dark thoughts. Hurt my mother.”

Stab marks were found on the wall of a bedroom in the house where Crane stayed and wallpaper was also found on the floor.

Giving evidence, Sergeant Lee Baker, of West Mercia Police, described arriving at the address to find Crane covered in blood.

He said: “She came from behind the hedge. She had her hands - both of her hands - in front of her. They were open. They appeared to be covered in blood

“My attention was drawn to another female who was slumped across a chair in the lounge.

“She was collapsed over the arm of the chair, face down in the chair, slumped across the left hand arm of the chair with her head in the seat of the chair.

“There was no response. She was covered in blood, particularly around her head. There was a lot of blood on the floor and there was a lot of blood around her mouth.

“There was no sign of life.”

The trial continues.

SWNS