Schizophrenic Was 'From MI5'

A court has been told that an apparently motiveless killing by a schizophrenic stranger disturbed the deceased's three young children as they slept - and then gave the children soft drinks and snacks as their father lay dying nearby.

The children were woken up by the noise as their father, Daniel Quelch, 34, was stabbed to death by the accused, Benjamin Frankum, 25, who was arrested at the scene, where he told police he had been sent by the security service, MI5, to kill Mr Quelch.

When police arrived at the property in Cherry Garden Lane, outside Maidenhead, Berkshire in August last year, they discovered the victim with horrific injuries.

The court heard Mr Quelch was staying at his parents' bungalow, where his three children, aged eight, four and two, had been having a 'sleep-over' party.

Frankum, of Littlehampton, West Sussex, had been in and out of hospital with mental illness, having been sectioned in 2001 and diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic.

Authorities allowed him to live in supported accommodation early in 2007 but he failed to take his medication, as he had failed to do many times in the past when released from hospital, the court heard.

The prosecution said he broke into the house and then stabbed Mr Quelch to death, giving his children cola and yoghurt when they were woken up by the attack.

A judge has ruled him unfit to stand trial for murder but a jury was sworn in at Reading Crown Court to decide whether he was responsible for killing Mr Quelch, who was stabbed a total of 82 times.

Mr Quelch was found in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor with his throat cut, the court heard.

An ambulance was called to the scene by Frankum, who reported cutting his fingers - but made no mention of Mr Quelch, who was left to die.

(BMcC)