Man killed his brother with a guitar while he slept

A man killed his brother with a guitar in a disagreement over their mother's care.

Steven Barnes admitted the manslaughter of Paul Hawkesford-Barnes who died in March at his mother's house Coventry.

Barnes denied murder and also a charge of attempted murder relating to his 84-year-old mother. He admitted attempting to cause her grievous bodily harm.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the brothers had disagreed over her care.

Mr Hawkesford-Barnes had been sharing the responsibility of looking after his mother with his two brothers and he had stayed overnight at her home in Hopedale Close, the CPS said.

Steven Barnes had disagreed with his brothers over the arrangements and plans had been put in place to relieve him from the pressure of looking after her, the CPS added.

The CPS said text messages sent from Mr Hawkesford-Barnes, 57 and a father-of-four from Malvern, on the night of the killing showed he had been concerned about Barnes' mental state.

The CPS said they showed he had offered to take him to the doctor in the morning.

It said Barnes, 64, of Telfer Road, Coventry, who was staying at his mother's house, then attacked his brother with the guitar while he was asleep, causing him head, chest and abdominal injuries.

He was discovered in the morning by a carer and he was taken to hospital where he later died from his injuries.

His mother, who was suffering with dementia, was found with facial injuries.

West Midlands Police said she had since died, but not as a result of her injuries.

Barnes was arrested after he went to a police station in Skegness on 15 March - the same day as Mr Hawkesford-Barnes was found injured.

Lynne Warrington of the CPS said it was a "terribly sad case".

She added: "Steven Barnes was aware that his brothers were planning to relieve him of much of the responsibility of caring for his mother.

"He will now have to live with the knowledge that he could have avoided this tragedy if he had accepted the help from his brothers."

Barnes pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, West Midlands Police said.

The court accepted Barnes pleas and he was remanded in custody to be sentenced at Warwick Crown Court on 18 November.

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