A daughter who decapitated her mother and carried her head around in a plastic carrier bag after removing some of her brain had been considered a serious threat from the age of just six, a court has heard.
Odessa Tammy Carey, 36, was made the subject of an indefinite hospital order on Thursday, partly to protect the public.
Newcastle Crown Court was told friends and family had been fearful that she would hurt her mother – also Odessa Carey, 73, – when she started showing dangerous signs as young as six.
Carey was deemed unfit to plead to a charge of murder or manslaughter, but was found to have committed the killing by a jury in a trial of the facts.
Police search teams made the gruesome discovery at a house in the village of Guide Post, Northumberland, after the decapitated corpse of Odessa Carey Snr (pictured) 73, was found at her home nearby
Prosecutor Andrew Espley told the court: ‘Various family members spoke in witness statements, which the jury did not need to hear for the purposes of their determination, of longstanding mental health difficulties which friends and family saw in Odessa Tammy Carey at first hand from the age of six or seven.
‘They feared for the safety of Odessa Carey and feared Odessa Tammy Carey might hurt her and hurt her seriously.
‘This fear was exacerbated by their belief that Odessa Tammy Carey was inconsistent in taking her prescribed medication.
‘They reported a history of violence and aggression towards Odessa Carey and towards former partners in Odessa Tammy Carey’s life.’
Paranoid schizophrenic Odessa Carey, 36, (left and right) was too unwell to enter a plea to a murder charge but following a trial of the facts, a jury found she killed her mother
Miss Carey was found hiding in a loft at a friend’s home in Guide Post, Northumberland, following a weekend in which she had carried out the horrifying killing of her mother.
Police search teams made the gruesome discovery of Ms Odessa Carey Snr’s head at a house in the village of Guide Post, Northumberland, after her decapitated corpse was found at her home nearby.
Jurors were told how detectives launched a search of the house in Guide Post after discovering the body of the 73-year-old on April 8 last year, because it was where Ms Carey had been known to stay.
Odessa Tammy Carey beat her mother to death at Ms Carey’s home in North Seaton, near Ashington, Northumberland using a mallet, before using a knife and scissors to cut off her head and remove part of her brain.
This screenshot from CCTV footage shows Carey carrying her mother’s severed head in a bag
The court was told how Odessa Tammy Carey had carried her mother’s head, wrapped carefully in a pillow case, with her to allotments near her mother’s home in Ashington, Northumberland, and had taken it out in front of an allotment holder, planting a kiss on the forehead.
Police released a CCTV clip earlier this week showing daughter Carey walking down the street with her mother’s head in a shopping bag.
The court was told that her delusional schizophrenia meant she was still under the belief that the person she killed and mutilated was not her mother.
Judge Paul Sloan, QC, told Carey: ‘Having regard to what you did and the very considerable risk you pose if set at large, I am satisfied it is necessary for the protection of the public from serious harm that you be subject to a restriction order in s secure hospital. There will be specific restrictions before you could ever be discharged from hospital.’
He ordered that Carey, who was flanked in the dock by guards and hospital staff, be taken straight from court to Rampton secure psychiatric hospital in Nottinghamshire.
The family of Odessa Carey said: ‘Our mam will be sadly missed by all – her sons, daughter, her brothers and sisters, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends.
‘Sadly she was taken from us in a horrific and vicious attack by our younger sister, who had suffered mental health issues for many years.
Police at the home of Odessa Carey, 73, where her headless body was found in North Seaton, Ashington, Northumberland, in April last year
‘Our mam was a loving, caring woman who would help anyone that needed it. She also loved to talk to anybody she met.
‘She was taken from us too soon and had a lot more to give. We believe that the mental health system failed us and vast improvements need to be made.
‘It is too late for our mam and sister, but hopefully they will learn from our tragic loss and stop others from going through the same heartbreak.
‘Our wounds will never heal, and we will miss our mam every single day.’