Killer stabbed pregnant Co-op manager Ella Parker 33 times with screwdriver after walking out of men

A PREGNANT woman was stabbed 33 times with a screwdriver by a man who two days earlier walked out of a mental health centre because he feared other patients were going to eat him.

Today Ryan Blacknell was sent to Broadmoor top security hospital by a judge who demanded an investigation into how he was allowed to leave the psychiatric facility.

It was just two days after he left the hospital when Ella Parker returned to her home and was brutally attacked with the red-handled screwdriver, losing almost all the blood from her body. Her unborn child also died.

Blacknell, aged 24 years, admitted the manslaughter of Ella, a supermarket manager, on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was ordered to be detained at Broadmoor indefinitely.

As a result, it will require the approval of two psychiatrists and the Secretary of State before he can be released.

At a sentencing at Luton Crown Court today, it was revealed that Blacknell had discharged himself from a mental health centre in Milton Keynes, Bucks., just two days before he killed the Co-op store manager, who was 29.

Blacknell's own mother had called the police and a mental health triage team after she found him rambling about dinosaurs and holding a large knife at their home.

In a recording made by his mother, Blacknell could be heard saying: "I know what happens in the afterlife. You know what happens."

After showing the recording to police and the mental health team that arrived at the mother's home on December 4 last year, the emergency services took Blacknell to the Campbell Centre in the city.

He stayed overnight, but signed himself out on December 5 because he was scared that the other inmates would eat him if he stayed another night.

Blacknell was then reported missing.

Judge Richard Foster called for a probe into how he signed himself out, and said: "I hope there will be a full investigation into the troubles of the Campbell Centre in not taking further action."

When he left Campbell House, Blacknell ended up staying with Ella and her brother Tim, who had know his sister's soon-to-be killer since they were in nursery together.

Alan Blake, prosecuting, said: "Ryan Blacknell took Ella's dog for a walk and returned about 10 am. Between 11 and 11.50 am, she made calls and sent messages to friends. The last message she sent was at 11.45.

"CCTV shows Blacknell left around 12.40."

Blacknell went to a number of pubs after killing Ella before going to see a friend at the YMCA.

He handed himself into police the next day to say he had committed a crime and it was soon figured out he was the person who had killed Ella and that he had her blood on his clothes.

The court heard that at 2.30pm a neighbour had gone to Ella's flat and found her body. Emergency services were called and nearby residents tried in vain to revive her, but paramedics found she was dead when they arrived.

A post mortem examination found she had been stabbed 33 times in the back of the head and neck with a semi-sharp, semi-blunt object, with some of the wounds up to eight centimetres deep.

One of these puncture wounds cut her carotid artery and Ella would have passed out within seconds according to the pathologist.

A red-handled screwdriver was found in the kitchen of the flat in Newport Road, New Bradwell, Milton Keynes with Ella's blood on it and this was determined to be the weapon used to kill her. Blacknell changed his clothes before he fled.

Andel Singh, defending, offered no mitigation to the sentencing judge following his client's guilty plea to manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

He said: "Ryan Blacknell presented as a person to psychiatrists as being quite normal, but clearly something else was going on in his head.

"He felt that the other patients at the Campbell Centre were going to eat him if he was to stay another night."

Seena Faze, an expert forensic psychiatrist said that Blacknell was suffering from schizophrenia or a schizophrenic disorder, and that he would be a danger to society were he released.

A member of Ella Parker's family provided an impact statement on behalf of the family, 16 of whom were in the court today.

Vivienne Parker said: "We as a family have found it difficult to put our feelings into words something so tragic and unnecessary. It is extremely difficult. We worry about how she suffered when she died.

"She was looking forward to having a family of her own."

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Ella was five months pregnant when she died and her unborn son also perished. Both of Ella's parents had died when she was young.

Judge Foster handed down the indefinite detention order, saying: "This case is tragic and may have been avoidable. Ella was a happy and vivacious women, five months pregnant and enjoyed her day decorating her home.

"Her life was tragically brought to an end by a very sick man.

"I hope the family know that this is one of the most powerful orders the court can make. He may never be released and if he is, it will be under the most stringent of conditions."

Blacknell was sentenced under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act.

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