FILICIDE: Wales: Yvonne Freaney discharged by compassionate judge

 01 Jul 2011

Mother-of-four Freaney also tried to kill herself but botched her attempts to slash her wrists - and was found alive by ambulance crews. Photo: WALES NEWS SERVICE

Devoted Yvonne Freaney, 50, admitted she killed her son Glen, 11, with a coat belt in an airport hotel room.

Freaney told police she killed Glen so "no one could point fingers at him" when he was in heaven.

Mother-of-four Freaney also tried to kill herself but botched her attempts to slash her wrists - and was found alive by ambulance crews.

She was cleared of murder but admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility. Judge Mr Justice Wyn Williams allowed her to walk free with a supervision order.

He said it was "the most difficult sentencing" he had ever had in his career.

Mr Justice Wyn Williams told her: "You have already been punished enough.
"The only sensible and credible explanation is that your state of mind was truely abnormal.
"At the end you genuinely but irrationally believed that no-one but you could care for Glen and, since you were intent on killing himself, you had to kill him first.
"Not withstanding the fact that your crime was to kill a child, your culpability was very low.
"There could be no doubts you were completely devoted to Glen throughout his short life and showered him with love and affection.
"You cared for him with the best of your ability, day in and day out. He was very demanding but you never let that deflect from putting his best interests above those of your own."
John Charles Rees, defending, said: "She was undoubtably a loving mother to all her children and killed Glen out of love not malice.
"There was never any dispute as to the facts of this case. The issue was a medical one. She was suffering from a personality disorder.
"This is a wholly exceptional case we've heard, for reasons quite a distressing and haunting.
"She went through experiences that no one should ever have to go through.
"She needs to be reintroduced into the community and back into her family, that can't happen over night but can happen in a supervised and controled way.
Freaney was discovered in the Sky Plaza hotel room near Cardiff Airport with multiple knife wounds after a botched suicide attempt.
As she was being arrested, Freaney said: "He was laughing when I was strangling him. That is when I knew he was happy.
"I had to do it because now no-one can point fingers at him. He is in heaven now. I killed him. I was frightened about who would look after him."
The court heard "loving and devoted" Freaney was facing a lifetime of one-to-one caring for Glen after the breakdown of her abusive marriage.
The jury heard how Glen could walk, run and ride a bike and communicated through a computer by tapping on symbols on the screen. But he was not toilet trained and still wore nappies.
Prosecutor Greg Taylor QC said: "Glen was a young boy who suffered from severe autism - he was diagnosed when he was aged four.
"He was generally fit and well and had a normal life expectancy but he was totally dependent on adult care.
"He needed help, dressing, washing, brushing his teeth and feeding."
Mr Taylor told the court Freaney and her husband Mark had a marriage "filled with problems" and she moved out of the family home about a month before Glen's death.
The jury was told how 17-stone former RAF serviceman Mark attacked his wife on numerous occasions at their home in Barry, South Wales.
Police were called several times to the family home after alleged domestic violence. Freaney was examined by doctors for injuries but never pressed charges against her husband.
The court heard Mr Freaney had told social services: "I'm a wife beater and proud of it. She deserves it."
Freaney must be supervised by the probation service, attend mental health meetings, live in approved accommodation and not have contact with children under 18 without supervision.
Following the trial Freaney's husband Mark called Glen's death "a tragedy".
He said: "The outcome of the trial, whatever the verdict reached will not bring Glen back to us.
"The tragedy of his death still causes us great pain. He was a wonderful friendly boy and very much loved by us all and we miss him deeply."
Her daughter Carla said: "I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped and supported us through this very hard time.
"The conclusion of the trial will help give closure for us all and allow us to move on. I love my mother and will remain supportive of her."
Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jones said: "Any investigation into the death of a child is distressing for everyone involved.
"This was a very difficult case but it was only correct that the facts were presented at court. We note the decision of the court today and extend our sympathies to the family."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wirecopy/8610747/Mother-walks-free-from-court-after-strangling-autistic-son-with-belt.html

FILICIDE: Wales: Manslaughter sentence as jury accepts Yvonne Freaney was under severe strain when she killed autistic son

Helen Carter : 26 May 2011

Glen Freaney, 11, was strangled by his mother, Yvonne Freaney, who then tried to kill herself. She has been cleared of murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Photograph: South Wales police/PA

A woman has been cleared of murder after strangling her severely autistic son with a belt and then attempting to take her own life. She will instead be sentenced for manslaughter.
Yvonne Freaney, 49, booked into a hotel with her 11-year-old son Glen intending to kill him and then herself.
After strangling her son, Freaney was found with multiple knife wounds in a room at the Sky Plaza hotel in Rhoose, near Cardiff airport.
She left a note for one of her three other children, who also have disabilities, saying: "You may not understand what has happened but just think of it as I am finally getting rest."
The trial at Cardiff crown court heard she had been facing a lifetime of one-to-one care for her severely autistic son, who needed help dressing, washing, brushing his teeth and feeding. By the age of 11 he was not toilet trained and still wore nappies.
Glen had no verbal communication and used a computer that translated symbols he tapped out.
The court heard that Freaney and her husband, Richard, a 48-year-old former RAF officer, had been having marital problems. She had moved out of the family home and lived in hotels for about a month before killing Glen.
After friends raised the alarm police walked in to find the mother of four sitting on the bed next to her son's body. She told them: "I killed him about 36 hours ago. I tried to join him. He's in heaven now.
"Glen was severely autistic and he won't be autistic there. He'll be happy. No one else would look after him. I strangled him with my belt. I put him to sleep."
The court heard that Freaney also told police: "It is funny. He was laughing when I was strangling him. That is when I knew he was happy."
The prosecution said she had a "loving and devoted" relationship with Glen but there was enormous pressure on her and she was struggling to find a place to live.
An expert for the defence told the court she had a personality disorder based on a fear of losing her children, which meant she could not be a murderer.
She faced a murder charge but was cleared by a jury at Cardiff crown court after a day of deliberation. Freaney had admitted a charge of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
She will be sentenced on 10 June
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/26/woman-strangles-autistic-son-freaney

FILICIDE (charged): Wales: Jury finds Yvonne Freaney not guilty of son's murder

Liz Keen and Daniel Fisher, May 27 2011

A MOTHER who killed her severely disabled son as she fled from an abusive marriage showed no emotion as a jury found her not guilty of his murder.

Yvonne Freaney, 49, who was homeless after eventually walking out on a violent husband, had always admitted strangling 11-year-old Glen to death in a rented hotel room.
Her defence team said she did it while suffering from an abnormality of mind while under stress, suicidal and suffering from a personality disorder.
Defence barrister John Charles Rees QC told the jurors: “She was a battered wife but her way of solving her problem wasn’t to kill Mr Freaney but to kill herself and their son.”

She told police officers who found the child’s body, surrounded by his favourite soft toys at the Sky Plaza Hotel in Rhoose, last year: “I had to do it – no one else could look after him.
“My husband wouldn’t have been able to cope and it would have been cruel to leave him behind.
“I put him to sleep, put his toys around and started cutting myself.”
She said she had killed Glen, a pupil of Ashgrove School in Penarth where staff said she was a devoted and caring mother, 36 hours before the officers arrived.

“I’ve sent him to the Kingdom of Heaven” she told them. “My only regret is that I couldn’t end my life – my blood kept on clotting.”
As she was being taken back down to the cells yesterday, Freaney paused and leaned over the back of the dock, to plant kisses from her hand gently onto to the heads of her two grown-up children, who had rushed from the public gallery to embrace her.
The court heard how Glen, who couldn’t be properly toilet trained but who loved to ride his bike and play on the swings, died some time between May 12 and 16 last year.
Even the prosecution, in bringing a charge of murder, accepted she was a woman who had devoted herself to the full-time care of the youngest of her four children.
“He could not be left alone for a minute,” prosecutor Gregg Taylor QC told the jury. “He could walk and run in special boots made for him but had no awareness of danger and would rush to look at cars and fire engines. He would have needed supervision for the rest of his life.”
Freaney herself did not give evidence but the trial heard of her state of mind and the stresses in her life through a series of texts messages between her, husband Mark and daughter Carla, 22, and in letters she left at the RAFA club in Penarth, where her husband was chairman and where she agreed, at his request, to become treasurer and sort out the books, which were in a mess.
Mr Rees said she did it to try to please the husband who had been abusive towards her for years, although it was too much for her and she just couldn’t cope.
In what were meant to be suicide notes left at the club and on the dressing table of her hotel room she spoke of the amount of her time the RAFA took up and alleged her husband gave it more attention than he did his family.
The court heard how the family had to leave their mortgaged home in Salop Street, Penarth, because it was so run-down it was declared uninhabitable.
After a period when they stayed with her daughter, she decided to leave Mr Freaney, also 49, who admitted being violent towards her and spent several weeks before the killing searching for a home for herself and Glen as they lived in a series of local hotels.
Trial judge Mr Justice Wyn Williams told Freaney she was being remanded in custody until sentence is passed in June. Mr Rees said: “The question of her coming back into the community and how that is to be dealt with will have to be considered.”

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/cardiffonline/cardiff-news/2011/05/27/jury-finds-mother-not-guilty-of-son-s-murder-91466-28775441/#ixzz1NqFuTyfI

FILICIDE: Wales: Yvonne Freaney killed son 'to protect him from care'

20 May 2011

Yvonne Freaney has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 11-year-old Glen Freaney but denies his murder

A woman killed her severely autistic son because she was frightened he would be taken into care, a court has heard.

Yvonne Freaney, 49, admits the manslaughter of Glen, 11, at a hotel near Cardiff Airport, but denies murder.
She told police no-one else would look after him.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Mrs Freaney, from Penarth, may have a personality disorder linked to a fear of losing her children. The trial continues.
On Friday, her defence began with consultant psychiatrist Dr Tegwyn Williams of the Caswell Clinic in Bridgend arguing her condition meant she was not a murderer.
Mrs Freaney was sent to the clinic for psychiatric evaluation after the death of her son at the Sky Plaza hotel in Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan in May 2010..
Dr Williams' evidence contradicted the opinion of a prosecution expert who insisted her condition was not serious enough to amount to a personality disorder.
"I believe that she saw no other option other than to kill herself and to kill Glen”Quote Dr Tegwyn Williams Psychiatrist

John Charles Rees QC, defending, asked Dr Williams if there was any doubt in his mind that Mrs Freaney was suffering a personality disorder.

"None at all," he told the court.
"And that it substantially diminished her responsibility?" Mr Rees asked.
"None at all," Dr Williams said again.
Continuing to give evidence, Dr Williams said that Mrs Freaney's self-worth and self-esteem were based on the idea that she was a good parent.

Mrs Freaney has admitted Glen's manslaughter but denies murdering him

He added that a clear sign she was suffering a personality disorder was that she demonstrated an inability to function in all other areas of her life.
"I think that the threat that the children may be removed from her was overpowering," Dr Williams told the jury. "My understanding from discussions with her is that initially she was so helpless and powerless that she wanted to kill herself. "Her state from that point deteriorated and I believe that she saw no other option other than to kill herself and to kill Glen. "In her mind she was protecting him from the awfulness of his abuse by people who would have to care for him other than her."

Dislocating shoulder
Dr Williams said that Mrs Freaney had had an unusual upbringing which "left a lot to be desired" and included a relationship with a 22-year-old man when she was 12, and which was "with the agreement" of her parents. He added that she would have suffered from low self-esteem as a child, but taken those issues with her into adulthood and they could have been made worse by her husband, Mark Freaney, who he alleged was abusive. Earlier in the trial, Mr Freaney admitted dislocating her shoulder in one of many assaults on her.
The court has heard that all Mrs Freaney's four children had disabilities.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-13477391

FILICIDE; Wales: Yvonne Freaney tried for murder of autistic son

 Daniel Fisher: May 13 2011

A mother who killed her severely autistic son broke down in court today as the jury was shown the belt she used to strangle him.
Yvonne Freaney wept as Cardiff Crown Court was shown the black material belt she used to kill her son Glen, 11, at a hotel near Cardiff Airport in May last year.
The court also saw the large kitchen knives Freaney had unsuccessfully used to try and take her own life.

The mother of four admits manslaughter with diminished responsibility but denies murder.
The court today heard from the two police officers who found Glen’s body after being called to the Sky Plaza Hotel over fears for the safety of Freaney and her son.
Pc Matthew Jones, from Barry Police Station, told the court Freaney had asked for five minutes “to have a cigarette” before finally letting the officers into her hotel room.
He said Freaney eventually told them she had killed Glen 36 hours previously, and had then gone down to the bar to get a lager before, she said, “starting on myself”.
The officers found Glen’s body lying on the left side of the bed neatly tucked up with cuddly toys under his arms.
The right side of the bed was covered in dried blood where Freaney had been lying down after attempting to kill herself with knives and paracetamol. Gregg Taylor QC, prosecuting, said to Pc Jones: “You heard speech from inside the hotel room but it was quite quiet. She [Freaney] was having difficulty speaking and said ‘hello’, is that correct?”
Pc Jones replied: “Correct sir.”
The barrister added: “She asked if she could have five minutes to have a cigarette before she let you in. You told her ‘no’ and she removed the chain and told you it was open. She was sat on the edge of the bed and had various cuts to her arms and body.”
“Correct sir,” Pc Jones repeated.
The officer and colleague Pc James John then walked around the bed where they found Glen who was “quite clearly” dead, the jury heard.
“She said she had killed him 36 hours ago and that Glen was in heaven now,” the officer said.
Freaney had then pointed to the knives she had used to try and kill herself.
Pc Jones added: “She was very calm and clear about what she was saying. There was no panic. She was very matter of fact.”
The officer said Freaney then recounted how, because she wanted to be with Glen, she had cut her wrists and lay down next to him “to sleep”.
But she said the bleeding had stopped and she woke up – and had also vomited up the pills she had taken.
Pc John arrested Mrs Freaney on suspicion of murder. She then said: “I understand but I had to do it. No one else would look after him. I strangled him with my belt.
“I put him to sleep and then I went downstairs to get a lager before starting on myself.”
The court had earlier heard that Freaney was “terrified” of having her children taken away from her by social services.
She had been living in hotels for weeks after deciding to leave her abusive husband, Mark Freaney, in March last year.
The court heard of the “unbearable” pressure Freaney had been under, juggling the care of Glen – who needs one-to-one care around the clock – with the care of her other three children, all of whom have disabilities, as well as her mother who had Alzheimer’s Disease, until her death in 2008.  Freaney had also had a small stroke and had a lump removed from her breast in 2006.
She was also being physically and verbally abused by her husband who would beat her up “five times a year”, the court was told.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/cardiffonline/cardiff-news/2011/05/13/yvonne-freaney-mother-breaks-down-in-court-when-accused-of-strangling-son-91466-28691650/#ixzz1Mc1MR8MF

FILICIDE: Wales: Yvonne Freaney charged with murder of disabled son

May 9 2011

A DEVOTED mother under pressure strangled her young disabled son to death before cutting her own wrists, a jury heard today.

Yvonne Freaney, 49, who survived and was charged with murder, used the belt of her coat to kill 11-year-old Glen, who she had cared for day and night all his life, prosecutor Gregg Taylor QC told Cardiff Crown Court.
At the time, she was said to have been running from a marriage marred by domestic issues and violent arguments which involved police, doctors and hospitals.
She had accused Mark Freaney, the man she married in May 1996, of giving too much of his time to the Penarth Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) club, where he was chairman.

The club, she alleged, always came first.
Glen, who at the age of four had been diagnosed with severe autism, died in a room at the Sky Plaza Hotel in Rhoose in May 2010.
It was one of several hotels he and his mother had moved into after she left her husband two months earlier.
Mr Taylor told the 12 jurors at Cardiff Crown Court, where Freaney admits manslaughter but denies murdering the youngest of her four children from two marriages: “Glen was killed while lying on a bed the their hotel room.
“Then when she was sure he was dead, she lay down beside him and tried to commit suicide by cutting her wrists and making cuts to other places on her arms, her legs and body.
“The defence argument is that you should find her not guilty of murder because at the time she was suffering from such an abnormality of mind as to substantially diminish her responsibility.
“The prosecution does not accept that argument but say this is a case of murder”.
He said psychiatrists would give evidence about “diminished responsibility” but the decision on the charge would be for the jury not for medical experts.
He urged them to approach what is a difficult case, dispassionately, especially as later this week is the first anniversary of the boy’s death.
Freaney, he said, had attempted suicide before, when her first marriage ended in 1984, cutting her wrists so badly she needed plastic surgery.
She told a doctor then that she wanted to kill herself but was afraid to die and admitted she sometimes deliberately worried her then husband with dramatic talk of suicide.
Mr Taylor said: “When she was seen at the University Hospital of Wales on May 16 last year [after Glen’s body had been found], none of her cuts were life-threatening.
“Apart from cleaning and steristrips there was no need for other treatment.
“But as far as the prosecution can tell she appears to have made a serious bid to kill herself – we are not saying she did not want to die”.
He alleged the Freaneys had problems right from 1996 until 2010 revolving around alcohol and episodes of minor violence from both parties.
Her older daughter, who has children of her own, was sometimes a witness at the family home in Salop Street, Penarth which they later had to leave after police and social services declared it so dirty and cluttered, it was uninhabitable.
An older son had left home to study law at university.
Mr Taylor told jurors: “From the time he was born, Yvonne Freaney devoted herself to being Glen’s full time carer. He need constant attention, 24 hours a day and couldn’t be left alone for a minute.
“He was generally fit, with a normal life expectancy but totally dependant for washing, dressing and feeding.
“He was not toilet trained and wore nappies but he could walk – and run – with special boots and was excited by cars and fire engines and would run to look at them with no awareness of danger.”
He described Glen as a happy boy, who attended Ashgrove specialist school, where teachers observed how devoted and caring his mother was towards him, as later would hotel staff.
But in the weeks before his died, he was hardly at school at all.
And at the same time, Freaney was said to have been under pressure in her role at the RAFA club, where she had agreed to become treasurer, when they were having problems in 2009.
“She always did the weekly pay for the staff but it was simply too much,” Mr Taylor said.
“In the months leading up to March 2010 she just wasn’t coping.
“She complained the RAFA always came first with Mark and that he did not love her and in fact he hated her.
The court heard of a serious of text messages between her, her family and the club as she moved with Glen from one hotel to another and of letters eventually found in the treasurer’s locker at the club.
One letter was to a club committee member telling him, “Every hour of every day it’s been the RAFA – the first words in the morning and the last at night.
“Mark is a good chairman, 200% devoted.
“My marriage was far from perfect but the club put the final nail in the coffin. I’m a broken person who can’t go on”.
To one of her children, she wrote: “Just think of it as me finally being at rest.
“Remember, although I’m not there, I love you .... Mummy.”
The case continues.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/05/09/devoted-mother-strangled-disabled-son-before-cutting-her-wrists-court-told-91466-28662318/