Mother, 30, admits killing church warden, 88, in Co-op during stabbing spree after she was released from mental health treatment at start of lockdown
A 30-year-old mother has pleaded guilty to killing an 88-year-old church warden and stabbing three other shoppers in a frenzied knife attack in a crowded supermarket.
Mother-of-one Zara Anne Radcliffe stabbed John Rees in the face inside a Co-op shop while his 87-year-old dementia-suffering wife Eunice waited in their car in the village of Peygraig in the Rhondda, South Wales, in May.
Radcliffe was suffering from schizophrenia at the time, Merthyr Crown Court heard, and was released from mental health treatment at the start of lockdown.
She today admitted manslaughter for her role in Mr Rees’s death.
Radcliffe also pleaded guilty to three charges of attempted murder of nurse Lisa Way, 53, shopper Andrew Price, 58, and nurse Gaynor Saurin, 65, at the Co-operative store.
She spoke only to enter her pleas from Rampton secure hospital, where she is currently being held.
Zara Anne Radcliffe, 30, has pleaded guilty at Merthyr Crown Court to the manslaughter by diminished responsibility of 88-year-old John Rees
Nurse Lisa Way, 53, was stabbed as she was shopping in the village after completing her shift at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in nearby Llantrisant
Michael Jones QC, prosecuting, told the court the pleas were acceptable to the Crown as at the time of the incident Radcliffe was suffering from schizophrenia.
Mr Rees, a retired senior engineer, lived with his wife Eunice at their home in nearby Trealaw.
An inquest heard he was attacked by a woman while he was in the shop and died from severe blunt trauma to his face.
His cause of death was recorded as severe blunt trauma to the face including multiple facial fractures.
Eunice Reese, 87, who is said to suffer from dementia, was waiting in the car as husband John Rees, 88, was stabbed to death
Church warden Mr Rees was described as “the very definition of a good man, extremely respected and liked in the community” by his family.
Radcliffe will be sentenced on Wednesday at Merthyr Crown Court.
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