Victim
Brenda Blainey, an 88 year old resident of picturesque village called Thornton-le-Dale. A frail old woman she lived alone but was more than capable of looking after herself.
Perp
Shahin Darvish-Narenjbon, an Iranian asylum seeker who had his claim rejected twice, but was somehow still in the UK, and was even working in a restaurant as a waiter, and that his how he became friends with Brenda Blainey.
His application for asylum was unsuccessful, as was his appeal against the refusal to allow him to stay.
Crime
The body of Brenda Blainey was found at the property on High Street in Thornton-le-Dale on 5 January 2022.
Leeds Crown Court heard Shahin Darvish-Narenjbon had met Mrs Blainey while he worked in a restaurant and she offered him a place to stay while he studied.
Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC told the hearing Mrs Blainey offered him a room he could use in her house while he studied for a Masters and they developed a "grandmother-grandson" relationship.
Mr Lumley said: "Towards the end of her life, Mrs Blainey was becoming increasingly frail and her memory was failing, but she managed to live independently."
Darvish-Narenjbon had been affected by schizophrenia since 2008 and told a nurse he had stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication before he killed Mrs Blainey, the hearing was told. Mrs Blainey was on the phone to a local grocery shop on 5 January 2022 when the call ended abruptly and she could not be contacted again despite 12 further calls by the concerned shopkeeper, the court heard. Darvish-Narenjbon admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
Shahin Darvish-Narenjbon, 34, stabbed Brenda Blainey in her North Yorkshire home in "<em>circumstances of appalling brutality</em>" on 5 January 2022. He had been staying with Mrs Blainey, who had offered him a place to study. At Leeds Crown Court, Judge Rodney Jameson said he potentially posed a life-long serious risk to the public.
The court heard he killed Mrs Blainey with a kitchen knife during a psychotic episode as she was on the phone at her Thornton-le-Dale home making a grocery order. During the attack, he banged her head on the kitchen floor before cutting her throat, hitting her and stabbing her in the chest. The hearing was told the pair became friends when waiter Darvish-Narenjbon met Mrs Blainey when she visited Carluccio's restaurant in Leeds in 2013. She offered him a room he could use in her house while he studied for a Masters and "<em>treated him like a grandson</em>".
The judge said over the years she had become increasingly frail and was suffering from the early stages of dementia before her death.
The court was told that a number of reports had been submitted by forensic psychiatrists which concluded Darvish-Narenjbon, formerly of Tinshill Lane, Cookridge, Leeds, was suffering a severe mental illness at the time of the killing. He had a history of mental health problems and schizophrenia and with each relapse his behaviour had become worse. Although his rational judgement was considered to have been impaired, Judge Jameson said he did bear some degree of responsibility.
The court heard Darvish-Narenjbon had arrived in the UK aged 15 in order to study, with his permission to remain in the country coming to an end in 2015., and was told he would be deported if he was ever released from a secure hospital or prison.
Outcome
Iranian-born Darvish-Narenjbon received a mental health restriction order and hospital order after pleading guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
Speaking afterwards, North Yorkshire Police acting Det Supt, Graeme Wright, said Mrs Blainey had "<em>lost her life after showing immense kindness to a young man who she identified was in need of support</em>."
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