Jasmine Forrester manslaughter: Great-uncle given hospital order

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-45666332

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A man who bludgeoned his 11-year-old great-niece to death has been sentenced to spend an unspecified length of time in a secure hospital.

Delroy Forrester, 51, denied murdering Jasmine Forrester in February on the basis he was "legally insane".

He was found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at a previous hearing.

Jasmine suffered more than 100 wounds during the assault using a table leg, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The hospital order was made under section 37 of the Mental Health Act.

Forrester, formerly of Lower Villiers Street in Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, visited his 79-year-old mother's home on 9 February where he attacked both her and Jasmine.

Forrester's mother attempted to protect Jasmine before raising the alarm with a neighbour, telling the man her son was attacking her great-granddaughter and she thought she might be dead.

When police officers arrived, Forrester was still attacking Jasmine. She was taken to hospital with "catastrophic" injuries and later died.

During the trial, the court was told Forrester's daughter, Tyler, was angry that she had approached a crisis team at Penn Hospital in Wolverhampton the day before the attack but was told they could do nothing to help.

West Midlands Police said Forrester had been complaining to his close relatives and friends that he was "getting messages through the TV telling him what to say" and also spoke of demons in his head.

The jury was told Forrester had a brain tumour removed in 1999 but it had re-grown.

Giving evidence, psychiatrist Dr Dinesh Maganty said the growth meant Forrester had a lack of control over his actions.