Mentally ill woman decapitated brother, court told

The hearing was held at the Old Bailey

A woman attacked her brother with a knife and cut off his head while "in the grip of a very serious mental illness", a court has heard.

Heaven Belal, 41, is accused of killing her brother Omar Belal in Edmonton in 2021.

Psychiatrists agreed that Belal was suffering from delusions at the time, jurors heard.

The defence invited jurors to return a verdict of not guilty to murder "by reason of insanity".

Ms Belal had moved to London from Plymouth to be nearer to her older sibling Omar Bilal in February 2021, the Old Bailey was told.

On 27 July 2021, police were called to her council flat in north London by concerned social workers, after a neighbour heard screams and shouts.

The first officers to arrive at the scene were unaware that the defendant had called 999 herself, the court heard.

In the call, she asked for help, saying "it's me, Samoeel, the Lord", in an apparent reference to an Old Testament prophet, jurors heard.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said officers found Mr Belal's body "covered over with bin bags", adding that when the bags were removed, it became apparent that "the man's head had been severed from his body".

The victim had also sustained multiple stab wounds to the chest and elsewhere, the prosecutor said.

Mr Emlyn Jones said that Ms Belal was "in the grip of a very serious mental illness" at the time and psychiatrists agreed that she was unaware that what she was doing was wrong.

He also told the jurors that it was an unusual criminal trial, as both the prosecution and the defence invited them to return a verdict of not guilty due to Ms Bilal's mental illness.

The trial continues.