Son jailed for heating murder bid

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A man who tried to kill his mother by turning off the central heating has been jailed for 10-and-a-half years.

Stephen Office found his mother Margaret, 74, lying on the landing of the home they shared in North Shields, North Tyneside, in December 2007.

Instead of alerting emergency services, he turned down the heating and left her, hoping she would die.

At an earlier hearing, the 49-year-old, of St Stephen's Way, North Shields, admitted attempted murder.

As Mrs Office lay freezing on the landing for two days, Office watched television and drank cider in the lounge of the house they shared.

He would step over her to go to the toilet and to bed, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

'Appalling way'

Friends became concerned for Mrs Office, who was also known as Stella, after she had not been seen at work for a couple of days.

The court heard Office told a friend who went round to the house that his mother was upstairs but the friend could see her lying on the landing.

Morally, if not legally, you had a duty to seek help for your mother. You did no such thing Judge John Milford QC

When paramedics arrived they noticed the house was freezing.

At hospital it was discovered Mrs Office had fractured her spine. She never recovered and died from her injuries on 19 December 2007.

During police interviews Office attempted to say that he had been acting out of mercy and turned off the heating to allow her to die "painlessly".

James Goss QC, defending, said that in sobriety he deeply regretted his actions.

Judge John Milford QC said: "Morally, if not legally, you had a duty to seek help for your mother. You did no such thing."

He added: "It must have been an appalling way for her to spend some of the last days of her life."