Man who killed pensioner in North Yorkshire village will remain in secure hospital indefinitely
Shahin Darvish-Narenjbon, a failed asylum seeker, attacked and killed Brenda Blainey in the home they shared in January last year
Last updated 1st Feb 2023
A failed asylum seeker who has paranoid schizophrenia has been told he'll remain in a secure hospital indefinitely after killing an elderly woman who let him live in her North Yorkshire home.
Shahin Darvish-Narenjbon, 34, was taken-in by 87-year-old Brenda Blainey when she met him in a Leeds restaurant and he went to live with her in the tourist village of Thornton-le-Dale, where she treated him like a grandson, Judge Rodney Jameson KC said.
But on January 5 last year, the Iranian national strangled Mrs Blainey before smashing her head on the kitchen floor, stabbing her in the chest and cutting her throat.
Judge Jameson said: "You killed Brenda Blainey is her own home in circumstances of appalling brutality".
He said Mrs Blainey was likely placing a grocery order on the phone to the village shop when Darvish-Narenjbon launched his attack.
But the judge said: "You have never given, and have never been capable of giving, a full account of what you did."
Sentencing the defendant at Leeds Crown Court, Judge Jameson said three consultant forensic psychiatrists agreed Darvish-Narenjbon has schizophrenia and his "retained responsibility" for the killing is "low".
Darvish-Narenjbon permission to remain in UK expired in 2015
Darvish-Narenjbon admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at a previous hearing.
The court was told he was born in Tehran but has mainly lived in the UK since he was 15, although he stayed for a period in the US, where he spent time in a psychiatric unit.
His permission to remain in the UK expired in 2015 and his application for asylum was unsuccessful, as was his appeal against the refusal to allow him to stay.
The judge said on Wednesday: "Given the situation in Iran, however, you will not presently be considered for deportation."
Earlier this week, prosecutors said Darvish-Narenjbon, who was a student in Leeds, met Mrs Blainey at Carluccio's restaurant in 2013 and she offered him a room in her home, also letting him use a study and car.
Their friendship was characterised as a "grandma-grandson relationship" and they spoke regularly while he was away studying in Leeds, the court heard.
Mrs Blainey even attended his masters degree graduation.
Darvish-Narenjbon, formerly of Tinshill Lane, Cookridge, Leeds, appeared in court by video-link from Rampton high security special hospital wearing a grey sweatshirt as members of Mrs Blainey's family watched in the court room.
The judge ordered him to be detained at Rampton "without limit of time".