Leaving court after giving evidence against her own son, Marlene Anderson looked over at the dock and burst into tears. The 80-year-old was caught in the middle of an unimaginable tragedy.
One of her children, killed by another of her offspring. Gilvy Anderson, 59, had previously warned his mother that she'd 'lose' two of her sons. And on April 16 last year, his promise came true.
But that was not the only heartbreak she had to encounter. The day after testifying against her son, Mrs Anderson had to attend the funeral of another of her children, her daughter Meridene, who was in her 50s.
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Just hours before laying her to rest, mother-of-seven Mrs Anderson emotionally recalled the moment she came across the final act of two warring siblings. "Everything I said happened," she said. "I only wish it never had."
As her son was jailed for 15 years for the manslaughter of her younger son Emile, 50, on Tuesday (9 August), the pensioner described the torment of having to give evidence against him.
"It broke my heart to say those things in court. I never thought I would have to say these things but my son needed to hear it," she said in a victim statement read to the court.
"Even though he did what he did he is still my son. I just hope he gets some help because without it he is a very dangerous person. I have now realised I can't possibly have him back in my house and I can't say how much that torments me."
Tensions had been running high for a while in the semi-detached house on Davyhulme Road, Stretford. It was a childish prank which would light the touch paper, and culminate in a fatal stabbing.
Mrs Anderson and her sons lived separate lives under the same roof, keeping themselves to themselves. The two siblings and another brother, 59-year-old Gerrard, stayed largely in their separate rooms, and would bump into each other occasionally.
Emile would lock himself in his bedroom, and had a kettle upstairs to avoid having to make trips to the kitchen. Gilvy saw the kitchen as his domain. Aged 59, had not always lived at home with his mother.
He originally fled the nest aged 26, while he worked as a car paint sprayer. He had returned home to live with his mother about 25 years later, following the breakdown of a relationship.
After losing his job at a garage in March 2020 as the pandemic hit, he spent much of his time on a computer in the kitchen, watching videos and feeding his interest in conspiracy theories.
His mother claimed Gilvy was becoming paranoid and that his mental health was worsening. Gilvy had taken to covering up TVs and other electrical equipment, fearing they may have cameras inside which could spy on him.
"I wouldn’t dare ask him did he want help…he can get quite angry," she would later tell police. Weapons were also a fascination for him. He had hid several around the house, including stashing a knife under his pillow, and a hammer in a plant pot.
He even had a crossbow. The tension took its toll on his brother Emile, who had his own problems. He had issues with drugs and had previous criminal convictions, but none since 2007.
Emile lived like a 'prisoner' in the house for a year, according to his mother, as the family were left 'walking on eggshells'. She had chilling premonitions that Gilvy would do something terrible to Emile, but felt unable to intervene.
She tried to act as a peacemaker, but was scared of her own son. "I’ve been frightened of Gilvy for quite a long time," she admitted.
Despite her age, Mrs Anderson still had a full time job to help support her adult children. Friday, April 16 last year appeared to be a normal day for those in the Anderson family home.
Mrs Anderson had returned home and settled in her usual space, watching TV in a sitting room. Gilvy was at his regular spot in the kitchen, on the computer. She heard Emile, who had been upstairs in his bedroom, make his way downstairs.
As she heard the pair argue, her worst fears came to pass. She only experienced the aftermath of what proved to be the fatal attack.
Emile was slumped on a settee, having been stabbed hard to the chest. The 12 cm wound pierced his heart. It wasn't immediately apparent to her that her son had been stabbed.
"I said 'get out Gilvy, get out'," Mrs Anderson previously told jurors. "I didn't know Emile was dying at that time. I shouted at Emile, 'get yourself out'. I never saw my Emile again after I saw him like that on the settee."
Despite suffering a serious stab wound that would ultimately kill him, Emile was able to get up from the settee and walk upstairs back into his bedroom.
He locked his door, and lay dying. Gilvy heard his brother cry out in pain for help, but instead stayed outside waiting for the police to arrive. Mrs Anderson banged on Emile's door, but received no response.
Minutes later, police and paramedics arrived and found Emile unconscious, and in cardiac arrest. "Is he alive?", Gilvy asked the arresting officers. His brother died about an hour later.
Despite the apparent concern, the contempt and simmering hatred for his sibling was evident when he was interviewed by police. "He’s childish," Gilvy said of his brother.
"He’s done nothing but harass me for years. We’ve been enemies for thirty years. I’m not gonna pretend I loved him. I didn’t." The trigger for the fatal stabbing appeared to be a childish wind up, which Gilvy had been using for months to antagonise his brother.
Emile had confronted him after Gilvy had moved a CCTV camera, which covered his shed in the back yard. Gilvy would use a broomstick to move the angle so the camera was useless.
"That’s the only thing I can do to wind him up," Gilvy told police. "I must have done it fifty times over the past year and a half, just to wind him up. I moved the camera again last night. Straight away, Emile came running down the stairs, f****** mad face, right at me in the kitchen. He’s never done that before."
The only previous violence between the two which Gilvy could point to occurred thirty years earlier, when Emile had put his brother in a headlock. Gilvy had returned home to find Emile and his girlfriend eating his curry. After throwing the food over them, a scuffle broke out.
Years of simmering tensions between siblings finally boiled over on that Friday last year. That tension, coupled with Gilvy's fascination with knives and other weapons, proved to be a deadly combination. Now a grieving mother has been left to pick up the pieces.
Anderson was found not guilty of murder, but a jury convicted him of manslaughter at Manchester Crown Court in April. He had previously claimed he stabbed his brother in 'self-defence' after Emile started 'growling at him,' but this notion was thrown out by Judge Elizabeth Nicholls.
Sentencing him to 15 years imprisonment, she said: "I am satisfied that the defendant intended to harm his brother short of grievous bodily harm and he must have been aware of a high risk of death.
"I do not accept that the deceased was the aggressor and I find by the jury’s verdict that they rejected the notion of self defence. I find that the defendant’s mental health did not contribute to this offence.
"The defendant has consistently tried to blame his brother for his own demise calling him a 'monstrous human being' and a 'junkie piece of s***.' This perhaps reflects the level of hatred the defendant held for his brother."
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