A man killed his partner of 20 years in a brutal hammer attack after being overcome with an ‘irresistible impulse’ due to a rare mental health disorder. Daniel Mitchell, 48, was suffering with a severe catatonic depression never seen before by a senior psychiatrist, when he repeatedly struck Alexis Karran with a hammer. The 49-year-old radiographer, from Dukinfield, sadly died as a result of her injuries.
The couple had been in a seemingly happy relationship for years, but his deteriorating mental health led him to commit the unlawful killing. Twenty minutes after attacking Alexis at their home on Winchester Road, Mitchell called the police and said he had ‘just killed his partner’. He later told consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Melanie Higgins: “The night before I don’t recall, but I didn’t have much sleep. I woke up, we were planning a Sunday dinner and friends were coming round