A 17-year-old private school pupil strangled his mother and then stabbed her 118 times before calling 999 to tell police to “bring a body bag”, an inquest has been told.
Rowan Thompson, who had a history of mental ill-health, was visiting his mother, Joanna Thompson, 50, for the weekend when he attacked her.
The pair had returned from a morning jog when the teenager strangled her to unconsciousness in the living room. He returned 15 minutes later to stab Mrs Thompson 38 times in the forehead, 64 times in the neck, and 16 times in the arm.
At 12.45pm on July 1 last year, her son called 999 in a “calm, unemotional and quite ordinary manner” and said “I’ve just killed my mum . . . I strangled her and I’ve been stabbing her with various knives and whatnot”.
The police officer who arrested him at the home in Hambledon, Hampshire, said the teenager was “extremely calm and composed” and “seemed to be more concerned about his cat”.
Winchester coroner’s court was told that Mr Thompson had been visiting his mother, a speech therapist, for the weekend, having recently moved to live with Marc Thompson, his father, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
The teenager and his mother had “stressful” conversations about his living arrangements on the night before her death and he felt she was “controlling and overbearing”.
Mr Thompson, who became genderless and had changed his name from Ben, had previously been admitted to mental health hospitals after a suicide attempt and suffered depressive bouts.
He told police he felt “strange” while returning from jogging with his mother, was on “auto-pilot”, and could not remember anything until he arrived at the police station.
In October this year the teenager was found dead, aged 18, while in custody at a secure mental health facility, four days before he was due to stand trial accused of murdering his mother.
The inquest into his mother’s death was played the 999 call made by Mr Thompson, who studied at the £16,000-a-year Churcher’s College in Petersfield, Hampshire. “I’ve just killed my mum. I need someone to arrest me as that’s what you do and an ambulance would be nice,” Thompson calmly told the operator.
“I strangled her and I’ve been stabbing her with various knives and whatnot. My younger brother is at school, he’s due back later tonight.”
He added: “She’s not breathing . . . bring a body bag or whatever you do. I’m 99.9 per cent sure she’s not breathing. I started strangling her, she fell to the floor. I strangled her a bit more and stopped . . . then I kept my hands around her.
“Then I started stabbing her . . . she’s in the living room.” He said: “I’m down for the weekend, I had a meal and went to the cinema with my best friends which was really nice.”
Sophie Rugge-Price, Mrs Thompson’s sister, said that Mr Thompson moved to live with his father, a magician, in Barnsley to help his mental health. “In the last couple of years Rowan was showing signs of being depressed and showing suicidal tendencies; he had to be admitted to hospital,” she said. “He changed his name and gender.”
She added: “He was never hostile towards [his mother] but she talked about being on egg shells around him. He would get upset about things and she was never sure what would upset [him].”
Sarah Ritchie, Mrs Thompson’s friend, went running with the pair on the morning of her death and said the teenager had been “quiet”, adding that a decision had not been made about whether he was due to move back to Barnsley or stay in Hambledon.
She said that Mr Thompson had attempted to kill himself in 2017 after the suicide of Mrs Thompson’s brother.
Basil Purdue, the pathologist, said that Mrs Thompson suffered a fractured neck and that 14 of her neck wounds caused “copious bleeding” as they struck her jugular vein.
John Sandford, a psychiatrist, said that Mr Thompson had minor autism but “there was nothing to suggest he was suffering from abnormal mental functioning” when he killed his mother.
However, this was disputed by his father as two opposing psychiatrist reports, prepared by his son’s defence counsel for court, were not read out. Marc Thompson said: “For [Dr Sandford’s] report to be read into the record as a standalone is very biased when there were two other professionals who had opposing views. They said he was mentally incapacitated at the time.”
Jason Pegg, the coroner, recorded a verdict of unlawful killing. He said: “It seems no one will ever know why [he killed her]. The only person who knows is Rowan and he’s going to be unable to tell us.”
He was due to stand trial at Winchester crown court on October 7 but was found dead at Prestwich Hospital, Greater Manchester, on October 3. Police said the death was not suspicious.
Mr Thompson, 51, claimed that his son was failed by mental health authorities. He alleged that while Rowan was staying in a mental health unit in Southampton a vital autism report was never produced. His subsequent care would have been tailored to the report if it had been produced, Mr Thompson said.
He said that his child had “gender identity issues” and identified as non-binary but was placed into a unit which “segregated boys and girls”, making his issues worse.
Mr Thompson also said that a unit in Winchester, where his son stayed for about three months before killing his mother, was simply “churning him out” on a “conveyor belt”.
Please post according to the guidelines and rules, especially concerning title formatting and primary sources. Repeat posts will be removed, but significant updates to stories are accepted.
This circle does not exist to prove that transgender males are more violent than other people or to condemn them. It exists to show that transgender males commit violence and crimes at the same rate as other males, which is vitally important to acknowledge in making changes to public policy.
The circle is a database to keep track of news stories involving transgender crime to bring truth to the false narrative that this violence "never happens."
This truth is significant for the rights of women and our sex-based protections in law. It is also important to recognize so that proper statistics (crime and otherwise) are collected and adequate resources are allocated to women's specific needs.
Credit to u/womenopausal for this story.
Text:
A 17-year-old private school pupil strangled his mother and then stabbed her 118 times before calling 999 to tell police to “bring a body bag”, an inquest has been told.
Rowan Thompson, who had a history of mental ill-health, was visiting his mother, Joanna Thompson, 50, for the weekend when he attacked her.
The pair had returned from a morning jog when the teenager strangled her to unconsciousness in the living room. He returned 15 minutes later to stab Mrs Thompson 38 times in the forehead, 64 times in the neck, and 16 times in the arm.
At 12.45pm on July 1 last year, her son called 999 in a “calm, unemotional and quite ordinary manner” and said “I’ve just killed my mum . . . I strangled her and I’ve been stabbing her with various knives and whatnot”.
The police officer who arrested him at the home in Hambledon, Hampshire, said the teenager was “extremely calm and composed” and “seemed to be more concerned about his cat”.
Winchester coroner’s court was told that Mr Thompson had been visiting his mother, a speech therapist, for the weekend, having recently moved to live with Marc Thompson, his father, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
The teenager and his mother had “stressful” conversations about his living arrangements on the night before her death and he felt she was “controlling and overbearing”.
Mr Thompson, who became genderless and had changed his name from Ben, had previously been admitted to mental health hospitals after a suicide attempt and suffered depressive bouts.
He told police he felt “strange” while returning from jogging with his mother, was on “auto-pilot”, and could not remember anything until he arrived at the police station.
In October this year the teenager was found dead, aged 18, while in custody at a secure mental health facility, four days before he was due to stand trial accused of murdering his mother.
The inquest into his mother’s death was played the 999 call made by Mr Thompson, who studied at the £16,000-a-year Churcher’s College in Petersfield, Hampshire. “I’ve just killed my mum. I need someone to arrest me as that’s what you do and an ambulance would be nice,” Thompson calmly told the operator.
“I strangled her and I’ve been stabbing her with various knives and whatnot. My younger brother is at school, he’s due back later tonight.”
He added: “She’s not breathing . . . bring a body bag or whatever you do. I’m 99.9 per cent sure she’s not breathing. I started strangling her, she fell to the floor. I strangled her a bit more and stopped . . . then I kept my hands around her.
“Then I started stabbing her . . . she’s in the living room.” He said: “I’m down for the weekend, I had a meal and went to the cinema with my best friends which was really nice.”
Sophie Rugge-Price, Mrs Thompson’s sister, said that Mr Thompson moved to live with his father, a magician, in Barnsley to help his mental health. “In the last couple of years Rowan was showing signs of being depressed and showing suicidal tendencies; he had to be admitted to hospital,” she said. “He changed his name and gender.”
She added: “He was never hostile towards [his mother] but she talked about being on egg shells around him. He would get upset about things and she was never sure what would upset [him].”
Sarah Ritchie, Mrs Thompson’s friend, went running with the pair on the morning of her death and said the teenager had been “quiet”, adding that a decision had not been made about whether he was due to move back to Barnsley or stay in Hambledon.
She said that Mr Thompson had attempted to kill himself in 2017 after the suicide of Mrs Thompson’s brother.
Basil Purdue, the pathologist, said that Mrs Thompson suffered a fractured neck and that 14 of her neck wounds caused “copious bleeding” as they struck her jugular vein.
John Sandford, a psychiatrist, said that Mr Thompson had minor autism but “there was nothing to suggest he was suffering from abnormal mental functioning” when he killed his mother.
However, this was disputed by his father as two opposing psychiatrist reports, prepared by his son’s defence counsel for court, were not read out. Marc Thompson said: “For [Dr Sandford’s] report to be read into the record as a standalone is very biased when there were two other professionals who had opposing views. They said he was mentally incapacitated at the time.”
Jason Pegg, the coroner, recorded a verdict of unlawful killing. He said: “It seems no one will ever know why [he killed her]. The only person who knows is Rowan and he’s going to be unable to tell us.”
He was due to stand trial at Winchester crown court on October 7 but was found dead at Prestwich Hospital, Greater Manchester, on October 3. Police said the death was not suspicious.
Mr Thompson, 51, claimed that his son was failed by mental health authorities. He alleged that while Rowan was staying in a mental health unit in Southampton a vital autism report was never produced. His subsequent care would have been tailored to the report if it had been produced, Mr Thompson said.
He said that his child had “gender identity issues” and identified as non-binary but was placed into a unit which “segregated boys and girls”, making his issues worse.
Mr Thompson also said that a unit in Winchester, where his son stayed for about three months before killing his mother, was simply “churning him out” on a “conveyor belt”.