A TEENAGE boy who stabbed his father's partner to death was last week ordered to be detained for life.

Sixteen-year-old Richard Pinnington, of Bankville Road, Birkenhead, denied murder but pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Janet Smith on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that 36-year-old Miss Smith was stabbed six times at the ground-floor flat in Sandringham Road, Waterloo, which she shared with Pinnington's father, William Pinnington. She died from blood loss and shock.

When interviewed by police Pinnington, who was then 15, said he had been angry because Miss Smith had failed to collect him the previous week to visit his father in Walton jail.

He was also angry because he found a leaflet at her flat for a singles club and thought she might have been unfaithful to his father.

The Recorder of Liverpool, Judge David Clarke, QC, said that Pinnington must serve five years before consideration could be given to his release.

"For no reason you quite deliberately stabbed her a number of times, including the stab wounds which caused her death. That was a terrible thing that you did.

"You had a troubled and unsettled life before this incident and had been treated by a psychiatrist for a depressive illness. The fact remains that you were responsible for this killing. It will not do, as I think you are beginning to understand, to go on blaming others for the wrongs that have been done to you in your life."

He added that he had to pass a life sentence because doctors could not say for how long he would remain dangerous.

The court heard that Pinnington, who had been prescribed Prozac and had drunk vodka on the day of the killing, was suffering from a combination of depression and personality disorder.

Defence counsel, Mr Richard Henriques QC, said that Pinnington had been a victim of sex abuse and bullying.

"His regime of alcohol, drugs and street fighting gave rise to depression and it was in that state he took her life.

"He liked her. He felt a closeness to her and it is absolutely plain he had no reason to attack her. He is thoroughly ashamed and full of remorse for what he has done," said Mr Henriques.

Mr David Street, QC, prosecuting, said that the victim and Pinnington's father had moved into the flat in January. His father had separated from his second wife when he met Miss Smith. At the time of the offence he was in custody for alleged offences against his second wife.

Miss Smith was supposed to go to Walton Jail with the boy on February 16, but she failed to collect him and five days later he called round and fatally stabbed her.

Her landlady, alerted by noises like a dog yelping, saw him leaving and found her body in the kitchen. A post mortem showed she had been stabbed six times to the chest, back, neck and head, one wound penetrating her heart. She also had slash wounds.

Pinnington, arrested shortly afterwards by police, had a kitchen knife with a four-inch blade and a bent tip in his pocket. "I've done something bad," he said. "I think I've stabbed her."

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