Totley double murder: Everything we know as Duncan Andrews sent to secure hospital after killing his parents

A man has been sent to a secure hospital after he admitted killing his elderly parents at their home in Sheffield.

James Andrews, known as Duncan, aged 52, has been detained at Rampton Hospital after the Crown accepted his guilty plea to manslaughter by diminished responsibility yesterday (July 28) at Sheffield Crown Court. Psychiatrists agreed that he was suffering from a serious mental disorder.

On Sunday, November 27, 2022, Bryan and Mary Andrews, aged 79 and 76, were found with fatal stab wounds in their home in Terrey Road, Totley.

But Andrews’ sisters, Sally and Lucy Andrews told the sentencing hearing on Friday that their beloved parents could still be alive if he had been properly diagnosed and treated for his mental health problems.

What happened

At around 10.15am on November 27 last year, police were called to the family home in Totley. Andrews was found standing on the stairs 'covered in blood' and holding a knife. As officers used a Taser to restrain him, he told them: "I just killed my mum and dad."

Andrews, of Reney Avenue, Greenhill, had stabbed his father nine times and his mother 82 times with a German bayonet during a "psychotic episode". He was taken to hospital with a knife wound to his abdomen which he inflicted on himself after stabbing his parents to death during the night.

It was heard in court that he told paramedics he had been hearing voices in his head for 14 months and “God had told him to do what he had done”.

Andrews was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 9, and it was heard that medication for epilepsy could have made him more susceptible to mental health issues.

Seven months before the killings, the court was told that Andrews had told staff at a farm charity he volunteered at that he was worried he may harm people. Prosecutor David Brooke, KC, said that Andrews admitted having thoughts of “rape and homicide” during a mental health assessment at a hospital in April 2022.

He was transferred to a crisis team but he was only diagnosed with an 'anxiety disorder,' the court heard. There was no further contact with mental health services but he was prescribed an antidepressant by his GP a month before the killings and was awaiting a psychiatric appointment.

Tragically his mental health continued to deteriorate in the run up to the killings, the court was told.

‘The system failed to help him’

Sally Andrews told the court yesterday (July 28) how she and her family had spent two years trying to get appropriate treatment for her brother.

She said: “We weren't made victims on November 27 2022 - we have been victims of a broken health and social service for at least two years or more.”

Sister Lucy Andrews, said in a statement: “My brother needed help and I feel the system failed to help him when he needed it the most. I and my sister tried for the previous 12 months to get Duncan the help he so desperately needed.

“I genuinely feel that our parents' deaths could have been averted and I would still have my parents and my children would still have their loving grandparents.

“I hope my brother gets the treatment and support that he needs in order to get better. I hope the time comes when Duncan is better and he can live a normal life as part of society. However, I will always find it difficult to trust Duncan and allow him to have an active part in our lives.”

Yesterday, July 28, Mrs Justice Mary Stacey sentenced him to an indefinite hospital order and imposed a restraining order to further protect family members.

The judge said: "You killed both your parents who loved you and cared for you, and who you loved.

"You need treatment, not punishment for these crimes."