Matthew Brierley pleads guilty to manslaughter of his mother

Police at the scene in Littleborough in December 2013

Matthew Brierley has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his mother Glennis Brierley at a hearing at Manchester Crown Court today (Tuesday 12 August).

Brierley, 45, was originally due to go on trial for the murder of his mother.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Brierley suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and stabbed his mother after becoming convinced that his parents were part of a ‘satanic paedophile ring’.

Glennis Brierley, 64, was killed by her son the day after he had moved back into her home at Calf Hey, Littleborough.

Just before midnight on 14 December 2013, Brierley rang 999 from a phone box in Rochdale Town Centre and told operators to send help to his mother’s address saying ‘I’ve killed somebody'.”

Officers went to the scene and found the body of Mrs Brierley, a counsellor and psychotherapist - she had been stabbed four times in the neck and chest.

The court heard that Brierley had told interviewing detectives ‘alarm bells started ringing’ when he discovered some ornaments went missing from his mother’s attic. In an argument that followed, his mother threatened to ‘report him to social services and a psychiatrist’.

Describing what happened next, Brierley said: “I just went for her. I threw her down and got the knife and stabbed her. I was aware I’d just stabbed my mother and I didn’t have any response to it.”

Brierley also claimed that he had been ‘incredibly frightened’ of his mother and admitted that he had previously ‘considered killing’ both his mother and father, Christopher Brierley.

He went on to name people who were part of the ‘paedophile syndicate’ and went on to tell police about young girls who had disappeared from the Rochdale area.

It was recommended that Brierley be sentenced to a hospital order after forensic psychiatrist Dr Andrew Haddock told the court that his actions ‘were driven by mental illness’.

Brierley is due to be sentenced at 10am tomorrow (Wednesday 13 August) by Judge Michael Henshell.