Blind man who had heard voices stabbed loving partner to death

Gordon White, 47, suffered a worsening psychotic mental illness after he contracted an eye disease and went blind.

When he cut his own wrists his loyal partner Cheryl Martin took him to Rotherham Hospital in South Yorkshire and sought help.

He was hearing voices telling him to kill both himself and Miss Martin, and was seen there by mental health trained social workers.

Sheffield Crown Court heard yesterday that they noted White was anxious and confused but, as his partner was very supportive and he said he had no specific plans to carry out his threats, they decided not to admit him.

Miss Martin, 44, was merely given a telephone number for a psychiatric crisis team and White left the hospital, not having seen a doctor.

The next morning he stabbed Miss Martin to death in a "savage" attack with a kitchen knife, leaving her with 20 stab wounds. White only stopped when he cut his own hand and felt pain.

His barrister Jeremy Baker QC told the court that White had tried to seek help at the hospital.

He said: "It is with regret that nothing more was done at that stage. Had that happened this tragedy would not have occurred."

White pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Miss Martin, a quality manager for a finance company, met White in 1994 and they had lived together for 10 years in the leafy suburb of Broom, Rotherham.

Prosecutor Neil Clark said the couple had a "strong and loving" relationship. "The defendant was the love of her life."

White's mental health began to deteriorate when he developed the eye disease retinal dystrophy and he was registered blind in 2000.The disease plunged him into depression and by 2004 he began having delusions and was treated with anti-psychotic drugs.

By the time of the tragedy on Sunday, October 11 last year he had only peripheral vision of shapes and light.

In the months before Miss Martin's death, White suffered a severe decline in his mental health, was feeling suicidal and paranoid and began hearing voices.

On the evening of October 9, White cut his wrists and Miss Martin took him to hospital the following day.

He was released on October 10. Early the following day, a neighbour heard screams.

White rang for the emergency services and told police he had murdered Miss Martin.

Police found her on the dining room floor with a kitchen knife sticking out of her left hip. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

White, who was found walking along the road outside, told police he had begun to hallucinate. During the night, he wanted to speak to Miss Martin about feeling suicidal and then found himself in front of her with a kitchen knife in his hand.

She tried to disarm him but there was "something raging in his head."

Two psychiatrists both agreed he was acutely mentally ill.

Mr Justice Sweeney ordered that White be detained at a mental hospital with a no time limit restriction order.

He told White it was a "savage" attack on his partner .

A spokesman for Rotherham General Hospital said: "He did present here but when a patient arrives with mental health issues we call in the local Mental Health Trust who are then responsible for the assessment and care plan of the patient."