NEW ASH GREEN: Mother who killed 11-year-old son detained in hospital (From News Shopper)

NEW ASH GREEN: Mother who killed 11-year-old son detained in hospital

10:43am Friday 2nd October 2009

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A MOTHER who drowned her 11-year-old son at their home has been detained indefinitely in a mental health hospital.

Jennifer Taylor was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court today (Oct 2) having pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility on June 8.

The court heard the 45-year-old killed son James on November 30 last year and stabbed herself multiple times.

She was suffering severe depression triggered by spiralling debts totalling almost £290,000.

Two days later she called police to the house in Knights Croft, New Ash Green, where officers found James’s body in the bathtub and Taylor in a critical condition in the conservatory.

Post-mortem examination results showed James had drowned and had drugs in his system.

Taylor was in hospital until December 8, when she was taken into police custody and charged with James's murder, which she denied.

Sentencing Taylor, Judge Andrew Patience QC said: “Her illness brought about a cognitive distortion within her which led her to the belief there was no solution to her problems other than to commit suicide and take James’s life.

“In her view no-one was going to care for him.

“Her illness led her to fail to see there were other options open to her.”

He added: “This can only be described as an appalling human tragedy.

“The life of a bright and talented boy was wasted. A life of promise never to be fulfilled.

“There is no question that she adored her son and had tried to do the best for him but had got deep into debt trying to do so.”

Taylor, who did not work, was being hounded by creditors and had just £360 in her bank account in the weeks leading up to James’s death, the court heard.

Despite receiving money from James’s father, Mohammed Al Refaey, who lives in the United Arab Emirates and was not in contact with his son, Taylor could not manage her debts.

Taylor will be detained at the Trevor Gibbens Unit in Maidstone, where she has been held since December.

The judge decided she would pose a risk of causing harm to the public if released.

This was after forensic psychologist Dr Catherine Kinane, who oversees Taylor’s treatment at the unit, told the court she still does not fully accept responsibility for her son’s death.

Dr Kinane also said Taylor has been resistant to treatment and refuses to discuss killing her son.

Another forensic psychologist, Dr Philip Joseph, told the court Taylor would pose no risk to the public if released.

He said Taylor had no history of violence and “the killing of James was not an expression of anger, it was very much as an extension of her own suicide”.

Dr Joseph said if Taylor was released into society and lapsed into depression, the only danger would be that she would take her own life.

Taylor has become a devout Christian inside the mental health hospital and wants to join a convent if allowed to leave, the court heard.

James was a pupil at Wilmington Grammar School for Boys in Common Lane after transferring from Steephill School, a private primary in Fawkham.

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