Daughter who killed and dismembered mother sent to mental health unit

Daughter, 39, who butchered retired nurse mother, 65, then dumped her dismembered body and severed head in bin bags near river will spend most of rest of her life in mental health unit

  • Lucy Fox butchered mother Judy Fox at her home then dismembered her body 
  • Daughter had been upset at her mother putting the family home up for sale 
  • Fox was today found to have unlawfully killed mother following a trial of facts

A daughter who murdered her mother before dumping her dismembered body and severed head near a river will spend the rest of her life in a mental health unit. 

Lucy Fox, 39, butchered retired nurse Judy Fox, 65, at her home before chopping up her corpse and disposing of the body parts in bin liners.

A court heard Fox launched the frenzied attack on June 12 last year because she was upset her mother had put the family home up for sale.


Lucy Fox, 39,(left) butchered retired nurse Judy Fox, 65,(right) at her home before chopping up her corpse and disposing of the body parts in bin liners

She used Judy’s bank card to buy bin lines from Asda and also purchased six cans of lubricant petroleum, fuel cans, petrol, sweets, a ready meal and some whisky. 

Fox was today found to have unlawfully killed her mother following a trial of facts at Stafford Crown Court.

She had been deemed unfit to stand trial accused of murder and arson so jurors were asked to establish the facts of the case in her absence.

A jury of six men and six women took three hours to unanimously decide Fox was responsible for her mum’s death.

She was also found to have committed a further act of setting a fire without lawful excuse at her brother’s home address.

Fox was made subject to a mental health restriction order and will be detained in Ardenleigh Hospital in Birmingham.

The court heard Fox would spend ‘a very considerable degree of life in hospital’ after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Judge Kristina Montgomery QC thanked the jury for their service during the ‘harrowing’ case.

She told them: ‘No doubt you have imagined the devastation this has wreaked on the family and how awful it must have been for them to sit through the evidence.

‘I pay tribute to their dignity throughout.’

The week-long trial was told police discovered Mrs Fox’s severed head in a plastic bag on July 10 four weeks after she went missing.

Officers also found other body parts in several bin liners scattered around the area in woodland close to the River Severn and Ironbridge Gorge in Coalport, Shrops.

Fox later told police: ‘She’s part of the Telford paedophile ring so I killed her. I tried to kill my brother because he’s also part of the Telford paedophile ring.’

Judy Fox was stabbed to death in the kitchen of her home in Shifnal last summer (pictured after the attack)

The court was told Fox had bought two knives from a Dunelm store before driving to her mother’s home where she stabbed her.

The kitchen was covered in blood, with splatters over the ceiling, walls, cupboard drawers and back door.

The court heard a lump hammer, saw and an axe were discovered nearby as well as two knives, one with a 10cm (3.9ins) blade and another with a 15cm (5.9ins) blade.

But there was no sign of Judy who worked as a staff nurse for local newspapers the Express & Star and Shropshire Star.

Prosecutor Kevin Hegarty QC said: ‘Where was she? Only Lucy Fox knew. No one saw Judy Fox again.’

Police continued searching for Judy and the first remains were found at around 10.30am on July 10.

Mr Hegarty added: ‘Hidden in the undergrowth was a bag that contained Judith Fox’s severed head.

‘The area was subject to very careful search – shoulders, two legs and some fragments of skin and the right breast were found.

‘These were examined by a forensic pathologist, he found the segments of the breast and shoulder showed the presence of stab wounds.

‘The stab injuries might have been caused when Judith Fox was attacked but they might have also been caused when Judith Fox was being dismembered.

‘But I will ask you to bear in mind that Lucy Fox was armed with a knife, she killed her mother. She was then cut up and then disposed of.’

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Bellamy, of West Mercia Police, said after the case: ‘This was a tragic and senseless killing that has left a family absolutely devastated by the loss of their mother, sister and grandmother in truly horrific circumstances and my thoughts remain with them at this incredibly difficult time.

‘This was a challenging and complex investigation and I’d like to thank the investigation team for their hard work and commitment that has meant the jury has reached the verdict it has today.’

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