Man, 81, killed nephew due to mental disorder - court

An 81-year-old man stabbed his nephew 11 times because of his "psychotic, delusional disorder", a murder trial has heard.

Firefighters found Andrew Avery, 65, lying in a smoke-filled house in Gosport, Hampshire, in November 2024.

Defendant Alan Wotton believed his nephew was a "malicious adversary" who was about to attack him, might be defrauding him and had spread false rumours about him being a paedophile, Portsmouth Crown Court was told.

Wotton, who is now aged 83, is accused of murder, which he denies, and faces an alternative charge of manslaughter.

He has admitted killing Avery before setting fires at property in Exmouth Road.

On the day of the attack, Wotton was reluctantly due to move out of his late sister's house which Avery had sold, the court previously heard.

Firefighters were called shortly after 17:00 GMT on 29 November, the jury was told.

Fires had been lit on a sofa where Avery's head was lying and on a chair near the stairs.

The victim, from Gosport, had been stabbed seven times in the chest, with further stab wounds to his legs and abdomen, the jury heard.

Sarah Jones KC, defending, said Wotton was concerned that his nephew was about to attack him with the knife.

The defendant also thought Avery might be trying to cheat him out of part of an inheritance from the sister, the barrister told the jury.

The attack, in Wotton's eyes, was "the only reasonable response in the heat of the moment", she said.

"Everything that led up to that moment was the product of the delusional disorder," she added.

Wotton's psychiatric condition was diagnosed after the stabbing and medication had subsequently reduced his delusions and aggression, the barrister told the jury.

Prosecutor Jodie Mittell KC rejected Wotton's claim that he acted in self-defence.

"Mr Avery was already on the ground, pleading for his life, you may think, unarmed," she told the jury.

"The wounds - numerous, deep... focussing on Mr Avery's chest - also tell us, you may think, about what Mr Wotton was intending."

After rinsing the knife and returning it to a knife block, the defendant started the fires and covered the front door with a towel to hide them, the barrister said.

Avery, who was managing his aunt's estate, was not defrauding his nephew and had even borrowed money to buy Wotton a flat, she added.

The victim planned to pay monthly fees for the property from an account in his own name, using £19,000 from Wotton's inheritance, Mittell added.

Wotton has pleaded guilty to arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered, the jury has been told.

The trial continues.