Son Jailed For Punching Mother To Death
A 30-year-old man who beat and strangled his mother in her London home has been sentenced to a minimum of 27 years jail
14:17, Thursday 04 June 2015
Margaret Sheehy's body was found a day after the attack
A schizophrenic man, who beat and strangled his mother before fleeing to Spain, has been sentenced to a minimum of 27 years jail.
Sean Heiss, from Surbiton in south London, had to be extradited to Britain for the trial because he was already serving a lengthy jail term for murdering a woman in Barcelona.
Judge Gerald Gordon said the 30-year-old's British sentence would only begin once Spanish authorities released Heiss back to the UK.
The Old Bailey was told Heiss punched his 58-year-old mother, Margaret Sheehy, to death in her home in June 2012. He then used her stolen bank cards to travel to Spain.
Several months later, he was arrested by Spanish police for the stabbing murder of a woman there.
Judge Gordon said he had taken into account Heiss's mental state when sentencing him, but rejected the defendant's argument that he should not be convicted of murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He also rejected the prosecution's argument that the killing was motivated by money, declaring : "In my view the cause of the killing that night was anger, not greed."
The court was told Heiss had no money and had recently quit his job when he murdered his mother.
Her lifeless body was found a day later after colleagues raised the alarm when she didn't arrive for work.
A post-mortem found she died from blunt force trauma to the head and compression to the neck.
