Former taxi driver who killed father arrested for mother’s murder
April 1, 2010
A former taxi driver suffering from paranoid schizophrenia has been arrested for the murder of his mother, six years after he killed his father with a claw hammer.
An inquest was announced today as Leslie Gadsby, 38, remained in custody following his arrest yesterday .
Mr Gadsby, from Tuebrook, Liverpool, allegedly set fire to his mother’s house before attacking her with a knife. The body of Edna Gadsby was found on Wednesday with multiple stab wounds, according to Merseyside Police.
It was Mr Gadsby’s second attempt on his mother’s life. He had attacked her during the same violent rampage that led him to kill his 63-year old father Arthur in February 2004. The incident left Mrs Gadsby with a fractured skull.
Police found Mrs Gadsby’s body in her son’s flat shortly after midnight on Wednesday during a search in connection with an arson attack on her home hours before.
Firecrews were called to her home in nearby Gateacre after a downstairs sofa was deliberately set on fire, along with a bed upstairs. Mr Gadsby was found wandering around nearby Belle Vale shopping centre by police and arrested in connection with the incident.
After checking his police file officers searched his home in Tuebrook where they discovered the pensioner’s body with multiple knife-wounds.
Shortly after admitting the murder of his father six years earlier Mr Gadsby was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and sent to the Scott Psychiatric Clinic in Rainhill.
It was revealed that Mr Gadsby was due to be admitted to hospital on the same day he murdered his father. He had been suffering from depression for two years and was £3,000 in debt.
During his earlier trial, a court heard how Mr Gadsby had become violent, throwing ormnaments around before calming down and apologising to his mother. After killing his father, he told Mrs Gadsby that he loved her and then attacked her with a spanner.
Merseycare, the mental health organisation responsible for Mr Gadsby’s treatment refused to disclose details of when and how he was released. They are to be investigated following the incident and refused to comment.
The new-build flat in which Mrs Gadsby’s body was discovered was owned and and run by mental health charity Imagine. Andrea Campbell, a director, also refused to make a statement concerning Mr Gadbsy’s treatment.
Pressure is mounting on Merseycare to disclose details of the case which left a dangerous paranoid schizophrenic free to walk the streets despite being handed an indefinite hospital order.
Bob Wareing, MP for West Derby, said the incident was “a dreadful tragedy”:
“I thought he would be more closely supervised,” he said. “I would encourage the authorities to look at this case and investigate what happened since 2004. I can’t imagine he’d be allowed such freedom, particularly after being sectioned with mental health problems. The case leaves me cold.”
Police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. Detective Superintendent Ian Mulcahey appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
A spokeswoman for Merseyside Police said: “A post-mortem has confirmed that the victim murdered at a house on Moscow Drive, Stoneycroft, died as a result of multiple stab wounds. A 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder and is still in custody.”
Source; timesonline.co.uk
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