A 15-year-old boy who battered his mother to death with a baseball bat has been detained for at least five years. James Gethen, now 16, was given an indeterminate detention order at Leeds Crown Court after admitting manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.
The court heard that Gethen attacked his mother Ann, 39, at their home in Goldthorpe, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, on 15 August last year. He struck her several times with the bat as she sat on a settee. After the attack, he told his 16-year-old sister Paula: 'I don't care what I've done. I'm not bothered. I hope she's dead.'
The judge, Mr Justice Openshaw, was told that Gethen had a history of psychiatric problems, including episodes of unprovoked compulsive violence and the childhood equivalent of an emerging personality disorder. In one incident, he tried to strangle a fellow pupil with a shoelace during a PE class, later saying: 'I decided I wanted to kill him.'
The court also heard of Gethen's extreme reaction to the death of his father, Eric, aged 71, on Boxing Day 2009. He tried to enter the grave and wished to be buried with his father. The family lived in a fire-damaged, boarded-up house where Gethen shared a bed with his teenage sister.
Despite his problems, the judge ruled that Gethen was not suitable for detention in a mental hospital and would instead be held at a local authority secure unit. The judge said: 'There's a very high risk that he may cause serious harm to someone else. Neither I nor the doctors can say when, if ever, that danger may pass.'
Detective Superintendent James Abdy described the incident as 'tragic', adding that the family 'not only had to endure the loss of a loved one but also come to terms with the fact that Ann's life was cut short at the hands of her own son, James.'
