Mother sent to mental hospital

..for killing toddler son in fire


Wales, UK -- A 26-year-old Ghanaian mother, who deliberately set fire to a shed killing her young son has been detained indefinitely in a mental hospital.

Mercy Atsu was "tormented" when she torched the outbuilding on November 3 last year, Preston Crown Court was told.

Aaron Elleray, then just 18 months old, suffered burns to 55% of his body in the blaze at his father's home in Bowness in Cumbria.

The toddler underwent skin grafts at Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital but his condition later deteriorated and he died on March 23.

Atsu denied murder but admitted the manslaughter of her son on the grounds of diminished responsibility. She was staying at the Lake District home of her partner at the time of the incident.

Sentencing her, Judge Peter Openshaw, QC, the recorder of Preston, said her plight deserved pity rather than condemnation.

He added: "The evidence ... Makes it quite clear to me that you were suffering from a mental illness with delusions even before you left Ghana."

He went on: "I'm sure that you were driven to commit this dreadful act as a result of your mental illness. Your plight deserves pity and not condemnation. You need treatment and not punishment."

Atsu, who sat beside an interpreter throughout the proceedings, will be detained at Guild Lodge, in Whittingham. The court heard how she was suffering from schizophrenia.