Man 'tried to remove mother's brain'

At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, judge Lord Kinclaven was told that McNeil, 40, who has a history of mental health problems, was schizophrenic and needed to be locked up for the protection of the public.

After the attack in the house in Broadcroft Lane on 5 June last year, McNeil went to neighbours and told them: "My mother is dead."

He claimed "Egyptians" had made him do it and told police he had picked up a metal pole and hit his mother on the head. He also said he inserted a knife into her smashed skull and tried to remove her brain.

McNeil was accused of murder but, at an earlier hearing, his guilty plea to a charge of culpable homicide was accepted because of his medical condition.

The court heard then that on the morning of the fatal attack McNeil dialled 999 and asked for police to come to his home. Mrs McNeil then took the phone and told the emergency operator that although her son was schizophrenic and had not taken his medication everything was fine.