Care home killing: Man sentenced for killing Catford care home resident

Eileen Dean was beaten by Alexander Rawson in her room at Fieldside care home in January

A 63-year-old man who killed his care home neighbour has been sentenced to indefinite detention on a secure psychiatric ward.

Alexander Rawson beat 93-year-old Eileen Dean with a metal walking stick at a care home in south-east London.

She suffered catastrophic injuries to her head and body and died later in hospital, the Old Bailey heard.

Rawson will be detained in a secure psychiatric unit, possibly for the rest of his life, the court was told.

Eileen Dean (L) with her daughter Georgie Hampshaw

The court heard how he had been been placed in the room next door to Mrs Dean after being moved into the home from a mental health unit a few days before Christmas last year.

He was suffering from twin mental health conditions linked to alcohol dependency.

Rawson had been in the care of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. During his time in hospital he had threatened staff with a knife and scissors.

After being moved into Fieldside Care Home in Catford, he was distressed and he frightened a member of staff by swearing and waving a walking stick at her.

He attacked Mrs Dean in the first week of the new year.

Fieldside Care Home was rated "good" by the Care Quality Commission

Mrs Dean's daughter, Georgie Hampshaw, wept as she read a victim impact statement to the court.

She described how her mother was unrecognisable from her injuries when she saw her in hospital, and realised it was her mother by her feet.

'Wicked and callous crime'

Ms Hampshaw said she could not understand how her mother had been the victim of what she called "a wicked and callous crime" in a care home.

She told the court she frequently wakes up in the night, thinking how her mother died and felt she had been let down by social services and the care home.

It was decided that Rawson was mentally unfit to stand trial. Instead a jury listened to the evidence and decided he was responsible for the killing.

He followed sentencing proceedings at the Old Bailey by video link from a mental health unit.

Alexander Rawson, 63, beat Eileen Dawn, 93, with a metal walking stick.

A consultant psychiatrist, Dr Marco Picchioni, who was treating Rawson, told the court he would need to be detained in a secure psychiatric unit, possibly for the rest of his life.

During his earlier trial, prosecutor Julian Evans told the Old Bailey that Rawson was diagnosed with Covid-19 in late November 2020.

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The BBC was told a team of professionals had a meeting to decide where he should be placed, including Rawson's social worker, a psychiatrist and a member of staff from Fieldside Care Home, and it was decided to place him in Fieldside.

From the start of his time there he was distressed and cried a lot, and was believed to be suffering from depression and early-onset dementia.

On 22 December 2020 he was moved into a second-floor room next door to Mrs Dean, and by the start of the new year he said he feared he was going to be killed in his sleep in "this OAP home".

After Mrs Dean's death, he told police: "I was on a mission or the world would die. I did what I had to do."

South London and Maudsley NHS Trust say its investigation is still ongoing and is expected to be completed in the new year.

Judge Alexia Durran handed Rawson a hospital order without limit of time.