Schoolboy stabbed baby brother '17 times in cot'

A 13-year-old boy is in secure custody after a court heard how he killed his baby brother by stabbing him 17 times and cutting off his left hand.

Bristol Crown Court was told how the boy, who suffers from a serious psychiatric illness, had an "appalling" and "wretched" upbringing leading up to the killing on January 19, last year.

The court heard how police officers found the six-month old baby with horrific injuries in a cot at his home in the Withywood area of the city. Prosecutors accept the boy's guilty plea to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility. The youngster has denied murder.

Police had been alerted when the boy, then aged 12, walked into a police station near his home and told them he had stabbed his baby half-brother before giving them a knife.

Roderick Denyer, prosecuting, said: "On January 19 at about 3pm in the afternoon, (the boy) presented himself at Broadbury Road police station and indicated that he had stabbed his baby brother several times in his cot. He thought he may be dead. He produced to the people there a kitchen knife with a brown handle which was four to five inches long."

Mr Denyer said when interviewing officers asked why he had done it, the boy replied: "I don't know."

The post-mortem examination revealed that the baby had 17 stab wounds to the face and neck and back - including one which severed his spinal cord - and his left hand had been severed at its wrist.

Mr Denyer said the first his mother knew of the shocking death of her baby was when the police arrived at her home as she had been "dozing" downstairs. She told officer she had argued with the boy who had gone upstairs to feed his half-brother. She said he returned a few minutes later, put his clothes in a wash bin and walked out of the house.

The court was told of the boys "wretched" upbringing and how he suffered from serious psychiatric disorders, including the autism-type illness Asperger Syndrome.

Lady Helena Kennedy QC, defending, said the boy's mother had been sexually abused by her mentally ill father and while she was in care. Lady Kennedy said the mother's partners later went on to abuse both her and her children.