Woman who tried to kill her mum on Doncaster hospital ward handed three year prison term
Doncaster Crown Court heard 65 year old Susan Hardwick had convinced herself her mother wanted to die
Last updated 24th Oct 2025
A woman who tried to kill her elderly mother on a hospital ward using pillows and a knife has been jailed for three years.
Susan Hardwick, 65, told medical staff at Doncaster Royal Infirmary (DRI) "I want to kill her" as they tried to drag her off Joan Hardwick, who was 89 at the time, the city's crown court heard on Friday.
A judge heard that Hardwick, who appeared in the dock using a wheelchair, later told staff her mother "had no quality of life", but prosecutors said Joan Hardwick was being prepared for discharge to a care home, "was not at death's door" and "has remained well since".
Hardwick, of Beech Road, Armthorpe, Doncaster, admitted attempted murder at a previous hearing following a lengthy process to decide whether she was fit to plead.
The defendant, who has cerebral palsy, a likely underlying learning disability, and who is being treated for cancer, sobbed loudly throughout her sentencing and as she was wheeled out of the dock to begin her sentence.
The judge, Mr Justice Goss, said it was a "difficult and troubling case" which was unlike any he had encountered before in his career.
He said that, given Hardwick's mental disability and "rigid thought process", as well as an "absence of any other possible reason for such a dramatic act", he accepted that she "might have thought it was the merciful thing to do at that time".