Man admits stabbing grandparents to death on Boxing Day

Denis and Mary Fell, both 73, were killed by their grandson Tobyn Salvatore

A man who stabbed his grandparents to death heard a voice in his head telling him to "kill them", a court has heard.

Tobyn Salvatore subjected Denis and Mary Fell to a prolonged knife attack at their home in Livingston, West Lothian, on Boxing Day 2021.

Salvatore was originally due to stand trial for murder but pleaded guilty to lesser charges of culpable homicide due to diminished responsibility.

He will be sentenced at the end of September.

Judge Lord Young imposed an interim compulsion order confining Salvatore to the State Hospital in Carstairs, South Lanarkshire, while a further psychiatric report is prepared.

Warning: Contains graphic descriptions

Salvatore - now aged 21 - legally changed his name from Jay Fell in 2016 in a tribute to fictional brothers Damon and Stefan Salvatore from the Vampire Diaries TV series.

The High Court at Livingston was told that he bought an 8in, ultra-sharp kitchen knife and a 10in butcher's knife off the internet two months before the fatal attacks, claiming he intended to kill himself.

However, he used the knives to kill his 73-year-old grandparents after a furious row over a Christmas hamper he had taken up to his room.

After the killings, Salvatore calmly changed out of his blood-soaked clothing and had a bath before going to the local police station and confessing: "I've murdered someone - my grandparents".

Police officers who forced entry to the couple's home found Denis Fell's body lying in the hallway. His wife Mary was found lying in the living room.

Her severed hand was found in the hallway to the right of her husband's foot and a piece of her scalp was recovered from the kitchen floor.

Loving caring home

Salvatore later told psychiatrists he attributed the voice he heard to the "Woman in Black", a character from a horror film he had watched more than 80 times.

Deeply religious Salvatore also told doctors: "I believe if my grandparents died, they would be resurrected."

He also claimed that a quote from the Bible - "all of your dead loved ones will be resurrected" - had been in his mind at the time.

Donald Findlay KC, defending, said a psychiatrist who examined Salvatore had been "very clearly of the view that this was undoubtedly a case of diminished responsibility".

Judge Lord Young told the accused: "You have pleaded guilty to the culpable homicide of your grandparents who appear to have provided you with a loving caring home.

"The Crown have accepted that your mental state at the time was such that you acted with diminished responsibility.

"It's apparent that your treatment is at an early stage. It is continuing and I need to obtain further evidence from the treating psychiatrist and mental health officer before I can decide on disposal."