Lodger who killed grandfather given hospital order

A man who stabbed a grandfather he was lodging with 179 times with a kitchen knife told paramedics afterwards he was a "monster", a court has heard.

Moses Fernandes called an ambulance and told a friend he thought Terry McFadyen had poisoned him, before killing the 71-year-old at the home in Norwich less than an hour later.

Experts concluded the 23-year-old was suffering from a psychotic episode caused by a schizophrenia-like disorder and he was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court to an indefinite hospital order.

Family members told the court they had "lost faith in human nature".

McFadyen's daughter Kelly said: "The actions of one person have truly ripped my life apart and I do not think I will ever recover."

McFadyen was killed about six months after Fernandes began living with him and his partner Jenny Holmwood in 2025 as a tenant.

That year, Fernandes had failed exams at the University of East Anglia. His mental state then deteriorated over the summer months.

On 4 November, at 04:05 GMT, he called 999 and requested an ambulance to the home in Layer Close, in Bowthorpe.

He also messaged a friend claiming McFadyen had poisoned him and that he "thought he was going to die". He then transferred her £8,778.

Prosecutor William Carter said Fernandes told the operator he "wasn't sure what had happened but he needed help".

McFadyen and Holmwood were woken by the noise and blue flashing lights and Carter said Fernandes was described as looking "like a madman".

Paramedics persuaded Fernandes to go back inside, but when he did, he took a knife from a kitchen drawer and stabbed McFadyen in a "frenzied" attack, Carter said.

Both paramedics pressed their panic buttons to summon police "shouting there was a knife", with officers on scene at 04:48.

McFadyen was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fernandes was initially arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. He was heard saying to the paramedics "I'm going to die, I'm a monster".

Prosecutors later accepted his plea to manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

In her victim impact statement read to the court, Kelly McFadyen said her father had been a constant help after her son died by suicide aged 17, six months earlier.

Lucy Bennett, the daughter of McFadyen's partner, said they "were not aware of Fernandes' mental health history".

She said that her brother had recently taken his own life and had cited the court case as a factor.

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