A student who launched a knife attack on a grandmother while paranoid after drinking vodka and smoking skunk cannabis has been jailed for her murder.
Sunderland University student Alexander Carr was seen by a witness cuddling his friend, Michelle Hanson, 47, in her sitting room earlier on the evening he killed her last December.
Carr knew alcohol and drugs had a serious impact on his mental health but still got intoxicated that night before inflicting terrifying violence on the mother-of-five, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
He then went on the run to London and was found weeks later living in a tent near Upper Holloway railway station.
When police arrested him after a struggle in which they used a Taser, the powerfully built 33-year-old was found to have a commando knife with him.
Carr had a troubled childhood, has a long history of violence and was diagnosed with personality disorders and the court was told it was somewhat “remarkable” he secured a place at university.
Psychiatrists agreed he was not suffering from a psychotic illness at the time of the murder.
Ms Hanson, who lived in an upstairs flat in Brady Street, Sunderland, had been paid that day and bought a bottle of vodka and a takeaway.
A witness, who cannot be named, saw Carr sitting with her that night and later described him seeming “nuts” and “speaking in funny accents”.
The witness was reassured Ms Hanson was OK and left, only to return the next day to find her lying dead in a pool of blood.
Daffyd Enoch KC, prosecuting, said the victim was repeatedly stabbed in the neck, that Carr had used a knife on her at least 29 times and that she was extensively bruised around her body.
Pieces of a broken dinner plate were found in her hair.
Nicholas Lumley KC, defending, said Carr had previously been diagnosed with personality disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis and had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act when he was younger.
Mr Lumley said Carr had written to the judge and admitted: “I knew my mental health issues were getting worse and I wish I had tried to seek out more help, rather than self-medicating with the excess of drugs and alcohol.”
Carr had admitted murder at an earlier hearing, having had a guilty plea to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility rejected.
Judge Paul Sloan sentenced him to life with a minimum term of 19 years and three months.
Carr initially lied to psychiatrists but eventually admitted he had smoked skunk – “which has a high potency” – that night, the judge said.
“You became increasingly anxious and paranoid and believed you were about to be harmed,” he said.
“I have no doubt that the principal reason for your paranoia was your voluntary consumption of skunk in combination with alcohol.
“Your paranoia culminated in a brutal attack upon Miss Hanson.”
Ms Hanson’s daughter Shannon Brown read out an emotional victim statement to the court, saying: “My mam was taken in such a vicious and mindless attack.
“We believe that her last moments would have been spent in fear.
“To think she welcomed this evil person into her house as a friend is unbearable.
“He has taken advantage of a vulnerable, kind and loving woman.
“It is horrific to know he towered over her in both height and strength and my mam was defenceless.”
