'Freddy Krueger' Killer Admits Southall Manslaughter

Mark Tyrone Thomas detained under Mental Health Act

(Air ambulance in Windmill Park. Picture: Wayne Hoeftman)

A man from Southall has been detained indefinitely after being found guilty of killing his half brother.

The court at the Old Bailey was told how 39-year-old Mark Tyrone Thomas of Halliday Square described stabbing his half-brother to death 'like Freddy Krueger'' because he thought he was having an affair with his girlfriend.

On Monday 19 February last year shortly before 3.30pm police were called to Halliday Square to reports of a disturbance.

Rotimi Oshibanjo

They found 26-year-old Rotimi Oshibanjo seriously injured and an air ambulance was called to the scene but, despite the efforts of paramedics, he was pronounced dead. Mark Tyrone Thomas was charged the following day.

Following his arrest, he was placed in solitary confinement after attempting to assault another inmate by pouring boiling water over his head.

This week the case came before the Old Bailey and the court heard how Mark Tyrone Thomas, had stabbed Rotimi Oshibanjo in the back of the head and shoulders in a frenzied rage. Police found most of the home they shared covered in blood and a hunting knife lying discarded on the ground. The court was told Thomas, was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, and later admitted the killing to a psychiatrist.

Prosecutors accepted his plea to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

He has been detained "without limit of time" under sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act, 1983.

17 January 2019