Blackpool woman begged GP to help devil-obsessed killer grandson before she was murdered in Stanley Park home

Marlene McCabe was killed by Conor Clarkson on Sept 04, 2019, at the home they shared in West Park Drive in Blackpool.

An inquest at Blackpool Town Hall, heard how 71-year-old Mrs McCabe was found with ‘catastrophic head and face injuries’.

Home Office pathologist, Dr Alison Armour, wrote in a statement how the 71 year old woman had sustained a ‘very violent assault’ caused by severe blows with a blunt object’.

When police arrived at the scene, near Stanley Park, Conor was sitting on the wall outside, covered in blood. He had been shouting ‘I’m the devil, I’m a vampire’.

‘We are both terrified of what might happen’

Just two months earlier, Mrs McCabe had written to the family GP, explaining how the whole family was ‘terrified’ that Conor would ‘end up in serious trouble if he [didn’t] get help’.

The hand-delivered letter, dated July 08, 2019, outlined some of her grandson’s bizarre behaviour – including ‘jumping up and down shouting Lucifer’.

On day two of an inquest into 71-year-old Mrs McCabe's death,an extract was read out.

It read: “We are both terrified of what might happen. We are that afraid that Conor has agreed that when he goes to bed at night we lock the door from the outside.”

‘Mistake’ in mental health referral

The inquest heard from Dr Paul Collins, a GP at Bloomfield Medical Centre, who first saw Conor in May 2019 to refer him to the Mental Health Team at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals.

He told the court that this style of personal letter was ‘highly unusual’ to receive, adding that during a consultation, Mrs McCabe said her grandson ‘wouldn’t hurt a fly’.

He recalled Conor was ‘visibly laughing’ as his carers voiced their concerns with the doctor.

Conor’s ‘complex history’ showed he’d been seen by medics in 2014 and 2017 for psychotic symptoms including severe paranoia and hallucinations, which Dr Collins said was likely to be ‘precipitated’ by his heavy cannabis use.

But Dr Collins admitted he hadn’t shared these incidents in his referral, which may have led to Conor getting seen more urgently if he had.

Alcohol and cannabis changed his behaviour

Conor had been living with his gran since he was five years old, after being removed from the care of his mother. He had been abused as a child.

Mrs McCabe was described as a ‘devoted grandmother’. The inquest heard how Conor’s behaviour changed when he started drinking and experimenting with drugs.

Cops thought he was a nice young lad with a supportive family

PC Vicky Rose had been called to their home on Dec 11, 2017, when Conor had been ‘arguing with his grandmother’. She told Assistant Coroner Tim Holloway that he seemed like a ‘pleasant young lad’ who showed ‘no red flags’ at the time.

She recalled having a chat with Conor on his bed, in his loft-room, and said: “He was chatty, and honest that he had been smoking cannabis. I got the impression he was a nice young lad with a supportive family.”

Pleaded guilty to manslaughter

PC Edward Daniel White was called to Stanley Park on 06 May 2019, when Conor threw a ‘partially empty can of beer’ at a jogger, in an ‘unprovoked’ attack.

He escorted the young man home, where his grandmother was ‘shocked and surprised’, saying that he was becoming ‘a little bit detached and less like himself’.

PC White said Conor's demeanour and behaviour changed once he was taken home. He recalled thinking that Conor came across like an ‘extremely polite young man’ around Mrs McCabe, and it was clear he had been ‘well brought up’.

Conor was sentenced at Preston Crown Court on Thursday, May 7, 2020. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. He was diagnosed with a severe form of paranoid schizophrenia, and sentenced to indefinite detention in a medium-secure hospital.

The inquest continues.