Mom who killed 88-year-old Co-op shopper with wine bottles and fire extinguisher received a hospital warrant

A mother who randomly killed an 88-year-old church keeper and injured three other shoppers during a wave of stabbings at a Co-op store received an indefinite hospital warrant.

Zara Anne Radcliffe, who suffered from schizophrenia and did not take her medication, hit hero John Rees with glass wine bottles and a fire extinguisher after he attacked her and saved a woman who was being stabbed.

Radcliffe hit the defenseless Mr Rees with a bottle until it broke and then used another to hit him in the face and head 21 times as he lay on the shop floor at Pen Y Graig in South Wales.

She made a prayerful motion with her hands when she was arrested and later told officers she “had voices in her head telling her to kill someone before they killed her,” WalesOnline reports.

The 30-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter on diminished liability grounds and was jailed on Wednesday after CCTV footage of the attacks was shown in court. She had denied the murder.

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Radcliffe also admitted to the assassination attempts of Andrew Price, 58, and nurses Gaynor Saurin, 65, and Lisa Way, 53, who survived after being attacked while shopping at the store during the coronavirus shutdown.

Mr. Price heard her yelling “Damn, I’ve got you now” as she grabbed him and stabbed him in the back of the head outside the store.

Mr. Rees, a retired senior engineer whose heartbroken family described him as “the very definition of a good man,” died of blunt force trauma at the scene and suffered cuts to his hands while trying to protect himself from knife blows.

He was the caretaker for his wife Eunice, who was waiting for him in his Honda car outside the store. The 87-year-old man was found 15 minutes later by police.

After the May 5 attacks, a friend said that Ms. Rees, who has dementia, “has no idea what happened” and kept asking “Where is John?”

Radcliffe, who had a “delusional but specific intent to kill” triggered by his mental illness, appeared at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing via video link from Rampton High Security Psychiatric Hospital near Woodbeck, Nottinghamshire, where she is currently in detention.

She was given an order of hospitalization without a time limit when Judge Justice Jefford sentenced her in Merthyr Crown Court. To protect the public, Radcliffe cannot be fired until a mental health court deems her no longer a threat.

New details emerged about the attack, and the judge was told that Radcliffe took a kitchen knife from his home and walked to the Co-op store, where he stabbed his victims in the head and neck just before 2 p.m. day.

Price, the first person to be attacked, thought someone was playing when they grabbed him by the neck, but then he heard a woman’s voice saying, “Damn, I’ve got you.”

He fell to the ground when Radcliffe used a “stabbing motion as fast as he could” and yelled “get off me,” the court heard. He was stabbed twice but managed to escape.

The witness Ms. Saurin entered the store, where she screamed for help and for someone to call the police.

Radcliffe followed her and asked, “Do you want any of this?”

The attacker then grabbed Ms. Saurin and began brandishing the knife, leaving her with stab wounds to the face and hands needing stitches.

Ms. Way heard Radcliffe yell “I’m going to kill someone” and was able to escape after being stabbed in the neck.

The hero Mr Rees, who was cheered on by the judge, stepped in and tried to tackle Radcliffe. He kicked the attacker and saved Ms. Saurin’s life, the court was told.

He and another man intervened in a desperate attempt to protect her.

“A selfless and courageous act that cost him his life,” prosecutor Michael Jones QC told the court.

He added: “Another client, Lisa Way, tried to speak to the defendant but was attacked and injured by the knife.

“The defendant targeted Mr. Rees and repeatedly attacked him with a glass wine bottle and a fire extinguisher as he lay on the ground.”

Describing the CCTV footage shown in court, Jones said, “Mr. Rees is on his back on the ground. First, the defendant takes a glass wine bottle and hits him repeatedly with it, once on the chest and three times deliberately and forcefully on the head and face. The third time it broke.

“He took another and hit him on the head and face 21 times with a glass bottle. He’s obviously wounded and weakened from the attack. He is on the ground on his back and little by little he becomes less conscious.

“The defendant walks away briefly before returning to Mr. Rees with a heavy fire extinguisher in hand and striking him on the head three times with the base.

“The attack killed him to the extent that the paramedics did not try to revive him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Police officers arrived and witnesses gave them a description.

When the officers approached, she put her hands in a prayerful motion. They asked him where he had put the knife and he pointed to where it was.

“There were several drops of blood on the floor of the store. The defendant said, ‘It had to be done and that’s it.’

CCTV footage showed Radcliffe walking away after hitting Mr. Rees with the fire extinguisher and then returning to his lifeless body three times to yell at him.

Radcliffe, of Porth, was arrested by police, who rushed to the scene after multiple calls to 999.

When the officers questioned her, she said she thought “someone was going to end up killing me” and “had voices in her head telling her to kill someone before they killed her.”

She said in an interview with the police: “I am sorry for my actions. Maybe I should have done things differently. “

A doctor’s evaluation found that, prior to the attack, Radcliffe had been hearing voices telling him that people were going to “cut her throat and kill her.”

On the day of the murder “the voices had become more real,” the court heard.

Jones said Radcliffe had “a delusional but specific intent to kill” caused by his mental illness.

Radcliffe’s attorney, Jonathan Rees QC, told the court that she was not taking the medications that had been prescribed for her at the time because she was concerned about side effects.

He said: “She made genuine and sustained attempts to seek help before the tragic events occurred,” he added.

He added: “She feels real horror, shame and great anguish that she has caused so much harm and suffering.

“She is truly sorry for the suffering she caused to the people she encountered that day. She is trying to show that remorse not only with words, but also with her actions.

His actions were undermined by his serious mental health. The damage caused was irreparable, but the evidence is clear that Ms. Radcliffe would not have committed these crimes if she did not have a serious mental illness at the time. “

The attorney said Radcliffe has had anxiety and depression issues since 2009.

Dr. Phillip Huckle, responding to questions from Radcliffe’s attorney, recommended a “very long” hospital order to protect the public.

The expert said: “When schizophrenia patients kill it is usually members of their family and not members of the public and I think it is important to be heard.

“This is of the nature and degree that justifies the detention of a hospital order. I would not hesitate to say that it requires a section 41, which means that the responsible physician is not responsible for the discharge of the patient.

“We are seeing a very long order and any downloads in the future should be closely monitored.”

At Wednesday’s hearing, it was said that Radcliffe received a conditional release after assaulting his sister in October 2013.

She was jailed for assault for hitting a nurse twice in the face and an on-duty police officer in the nose in July 2017.

In a victim impact statement, Rees’ son-in-law Patrick Davidson Heuston said the retiree “loved Rhondda” and was “a respected member of the community.”

Mr. Reeshad worked for South Wales Electricity and was “quiet, generous and humble”.

The statement read: “We are very proud of the actions you took that day, but we are not surprised.

“Eunice has lost her lifelong companion, her caretaker, and her home. This is all she knew and it was taken from her. “

A statement from old friend Wyndham Jones stated: “I would describe John as a true gem.

“He was the kindest person you could ever want to meet. He had time for everyone. He was patient and understanding.

“He was so committed to working for his family and would go out of his way to help anyone. He was a proud gentleman and would not ask anyone for help.

“We both went to church and he would ring the bell every Thursday for the NHS. John was loved by many of his friends, family, and the local community. I’ll miss him a lot.”

In sentencing, Judge Jefford said the victims were “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

She praised Mr. Rees for coming to the rescue of Ms. Saurin, saying she suffered a “horrible and sustained attack of great violence.”

The judge added: “Mr. Rees was a brave man and his actions saved Gaynor Saurin’s life to the end.”

An investigation previously heard that Mr. Rees, who lived in the nearby town of Trealaw with his wife, died at the scene of severe trauma to his face, including multiple facial fractures.

In a statement after his death, his family said: “John was the very definition of a good man, extremely respected and loved in the community.

“He was proud of his family, proud to be Welsh and a devotee of All Saints Church.

“We will all miss him terribly.”