Son 'beheaded mother for looking like a witch' Published duration 29 January 2013

A naked man seen "walking like a zombie" had beheaded his mother because he thought she looked like a witch, the Old Bailey has heard.

Daniel Coriat, 44, of Forest Hill, south London, was hiding in a wheelie bin when he was arrested in March 2012.

His 76-year-old mother's mutilated body was found at the flat they shared.

Coriat was ordered to be detained at a secure hospital without a time limit after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Sending him to Broadmoor, Judge Richard Hone said: "The public has to be protected from a reoccurrence of this bizarre, grisly and grotesque violence."

'Blank, vacant stare'

The court heard Coriat had used various weapons to decapitate Elizabeth Coriat and mutilate her body.

Sarah Plaschkes QC, prosecuting, said, after being arrested at a local train station, Coriat told police he was the son of God and had been living in the bin since coming down from the sky.

The court heard Mrs Coriat had told an advice worker her mentally ill son could turn nasty when he was not taking his medication.

Miss Plaschkes said Coriat was seen naked outside the flat the morning after his mother was last seen alive.