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02/11/2005
Suspended sentence for mother who killed son
A mother who killed her son, who had Down’s Syndrome, has been spared a jail sentence.
Wendolyn Markcrow, 67, from Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, smothered her son Patrick, 36, with a plastic bag.
She had denied murder, but admitted to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Oxford Crown Court heard how Mrs Markcrow had been her son’s sole carer for more than thirty years.
Mr Justice Gross said that Mrs Markcrow had been under unbearable pressure caring for her son. He sentenced her to two years in jail, which was suspended for 18 months, saying that a "merciful sentence" was the right one to impose.
At sentencing on Wednesday, the judge said: “You will be punished as long as you live by the knowledge of what you have done and what you have lost.”
(KMcA/SP)
Wendolyn Markcrow, 67, from Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, smothered her son Patrick, 36, with a plastic bag.
She had denied murder, but admitted to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Oxford Crown Court heard how Mrs Markcrow had been her son’s sole carer for more than thirty years.
Mr Justice Gross said that Mrs Markcrow had been under unbearable pressure caring for her son. He sentenced her to two years in jail, which was suspended for 18 months, saying that a "merciful sentence" was the right one to impose.
At sentencing on Wednesday, the judge said: “You will be punished as long as you live by the knowledge of what you have done and what you have lost.”
(KMcA/SP)
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