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Alexander McDonald guilty of mother's power cord murder | Alexander McDonald guilty of mother's power cord murder |
(34 minutes later) | |
A man has been found guilty of murdering his mother by strangling her with a power cord and stabbing her. | A man has been found guilty of murdering his mother by strangling her with a power cord and stabbing her. |
Alexander McDonald, 27, who also sexually assaulted Catherine McDonald, 57, admitted manslaughter but denied murder. | |
Police found his mother's body at their home in Somerset after arresting him for crashing her car in Devon. | |
The trial at Exeter Crown Court heard that McDonald was high on cocaine and alcohol before carrying out the attack. | The trial at Exeter Crown Court heard that McDonald was high on cocaine and alcohol before carrying out the attack. |
'Quiet person' | |
Det Insp Julie Mackay said the murder victim was "a quiet person who lived a private life". | |
She added: "We know he'd been drinking heavily at a wine tasting event the night before the murder, returning home at around midnight. He'd also taken cocaine. | |
"While he's been convicted of her murder, we may never know what triggered him to attack his mother in such a brutal fashion, before stealing her car which he later crashed in Devon." | |
The trial heard McDonald used a power cord, knitting needles, scissors and kitchen knife to attack his mother on 30 September last year. | |
The prosecution said hours before the killing, McDonald was exchanging texts of a sexual nature with a male friend. | |
A psychiatrist told the jury that Mr McDonald was not aware of what he was doing at the time of the killing. | |
He crashed his mother's car in Butterleigh and was seen walking away from it. He then walked into a couple's home nearby and was told to leave. | |
No formal charges were made relating to the break-in, the car theft or the sexual assault. | |
McDonald will be sentenced on Wednesday. |
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