Helston man 'shocked family to the core' by killing grandmother
Cameron Dancey-Stevenson was sentenced today (Wednesday 30 August)
Last updated 30th Aug 2023
A Helston man was today (Wednesday 30 August) handed a life sentence of 18 years in jail for a 'brutal' attack, which 'shocked his family to the core' after he murdered his grandmother.
Cameron Dancey-Stevenson, now 27, had denied killing 62-year old Alison Stevenson in Maneage Road between May 24th and 25th in 2021.
The court heard the then 24-year-old - who was later diagnosed with schizophrenia - entered his grandmother's property on the night before he was due to be sentenced for breaking a restraining order and stabbed her repeatedly with a knife while she was in bed.
Dancey-Stevenson then spent hours washing clothes and trying to hide any potential forensic evidence, before leaving by the same window that he entered and later denying what he did.
In a victim impact statement, Dancey-Stevenson's aunt Marina Stevenson, asked 'how do you explain such a horrendous act and its impact?'
She told him the 'brutality' shocked her grandad and the whole family 'to the core'.
The court was told the 62-year-old grandmother 'loved cooking, gardening and her family' and that 'nothing was too much trouble and she would help anyone'.
Ms Stevenson said: "Everyone who knew her talks highly of her."
She said Alison Stevenson lived in fear of her grandson and the now 27-year-old always 'felt your family was against you, you never looked for the love that was shared and things done for you, you only cared for yourself'.
The court was told the impacts on family 'still can’t be 'comprehended' as they struggle to come to terms with a how a child who was 'loved, cherished and supported could commit this act'.
The 27-year-old was told he was a 'selfish' man who 'took away the person that supported you the most, and you will have to live with that'.
The statement added that in those last few seconds she would have been 'scared as she tried to defend herself ' but also loved you.
In sentencing remarks, Judge Simon Carr, described Mrs Stevenson as the 'the sort of person who would put herself out for others'.
He told the defendant he had a history of being jailed and released and you 'saw her as a cause of many of your problems but nothing could have been further from the truth'.
The judge reflected that despite the defendant having a restraining order from his mother and grandmother, the 62-year-old had broken that, given him money and taken him in as she was worried about him being homeless - adding 'she could not standby and do nothing '.
Dancey-Stevenson was told he will be eligible for parole after the life term has been served, and said he expected some form of psychiatric facility to be needed as part of the custodial arrangements.