Son guilty of his killing his 100-year-old mother

A son stabbed his 100-year-old mother in the neck then told his brother: "I've just gone mad," a court has heard.

Hannah Fitzgibbon lived in Stepney with her son

Michael Fitzgibbon, 62, has admitted the manslaughter of Hannah Fitzgibbon.

She died from a stab wound to her neck in February at the terraced home she shared with her unemployed son.

Fitzgibbon, of Stepney, east London, denied murder and the prosecution accepted his manslaughter plea on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The fomer black cab driver was initially charged with murder.

Deteriorating health

But prosecutors at the Old Bailey accepted a plea to the lesser charge after psychiatrists agreed he was suffering depression of "moderate severity" as well as the early stages of Parkinson's disease.

Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said: "This is a case in which the defendant stabbed his mother when she was 100 years old.

"This occurred at a time when it seems that in fact the defendant's own health was deteriorating at a rather more rapid rate than that of his mother."

Mr Aylett said his condition was undiagnosed at the time although "some of the symptoms were apparent to family and friends".

He added: "Neither psychiatrists nor anyone else could think of any rational explanation for why the defendant would have killed his mother other than the one the defendant himself offered in the immediate aftermath.

"He told his brother on the telephone, and later police, 'I've just gone mad'."

Judge Richard Hone ordered pre-sentence reports to decide on whether to jail the killer or take an "exceptional" course of giving a supervision order, because of his state of health.

He was remanded in custody to be sentenced on 13 September