Iranian “grandson” killed Brenda Blainey in Thornton-le-Dale
A failed asylum seeker who cut the throat of his North Yorkshire ‘grandmother’ will be told later this week whether he will remain in a top-security psychiatric hospital or return to prison.
Nicholas Lumley KC, prosecutor, said retired Ms Brenda Blainey gave Shahin Darvish-Narenjbon, 34, use of two rooms at her home in Thornton-le-Dale and a car.
The 77-year-old woman was placing a grocery order at her local store on the phone on January 5 last year when the call was suddenly ended.
Despite 12 attempts by the shopkeeper’s wife to restore the call, she was unable to contact Ms Blainey and urged her husband to check on the pensioner during his delivery rounds.
“He was met by a significant police presence,” Mr Lumley said.
Darvish-Narenjbon had called 911 and claimed he fell asleep upstairs when strangers attacked them.
He claimed he found her lying on the kitchen floor.
Mr Lumley said her throat had been cut, she had suffered a stab wound to her chest and head injuries and all attempts by paramedics to save her life had failed.
Police believe Darvish-Narenjbon started his attack on her while she was on the phone.
“Their friendship was marked by others watching as grandmother-grandchildren,” he said at Leeds Crown Court.
An eight-inch blade knife in the kitchen that matched some of the wounds had been cleaned leaving no trace of Mrs. Blainey’s blood on it.
The 35-year-old Iranian-born defendant was originally charged with the murder of Ms Blainey but pleaded guilty to reduced responsibility for manslaughter.
Mr Lumley said Darvish-Narenjbon would be deported if he was released from prison or a psychiatric hospital at a later date. He was born in Tehran, Iran and came to this country when he was 15 years old.
He was originally jailed after his arrest and later transferred to Rampton Top Security Psychiatric Hospital in Nottinghamshire.
Judge Rodney Jameson KC will rule on Wednesday where he will be held and for how long.
Forensic psychiatrist James Stoddart testified that Darvish-Narenjbon had a long history of schizophrenia and was psychotic at the time of death.
He had told doctors after his arrest that he saw a “red button” that he pressed and received a “license” to kill Mrs. Blainey, which he did.
The doctor agreed that the lack of face-to-face contact between Darvish-Narenjbon and medical professionals during the pandemic had contributed to his deterioration in his mental health after he made the decision to stop taking his medication.
Mr Lumley said Darvish-Narenjbon was locked up in a psychiatric hospital when he lived in the US for a period in 2008. He met Ms Blainey in 2013 when he was working in a restaurant in Leeds and she was a customer. She had invited him to visit her at her home.
By 2015, when his residency permit expired, he visited her regularly and she had turned one of her rooms into his bedroom. She also gave him a degree, food and the use of a car.
Darvish-Narenjbon then applied for asylum, which was rejected, as was his appeal against the decision.
In 2016, in an argument with her, he damaged a door in her home when his mental health was deteriorating, and in 2020 he formed a limited liability company using her home as the registered address.
