Lives lost Mothers who died at the hands of their children

Mayawati Bracken, 56 Mayawati Bracken was driving her 18-year-old son Julian Bracken to the boarding school he attended when he fatally stabbed her in the chest on 4 January 2024.

- Jessica Murray

Mayawati Bracken, 56 Mayawati Bracken was driving her 18-year-old son Julian Bracken to the boarding school he attended when he fatally stabbed her in the chest on 4 January 2024. She lost control of the car and was found inside it by members of the public.

She died at the scene from blood loss and shock. Her son had left the vehicle and was killed by a train minutes later.

An inquest into Mayawati's death heard that paramedics had been called to the family home on Christmas Day in 2023 when Julian had a panic attack, and that there was "a lot of built-up anger" between the mother and son. Giving evidence, one paramedic claimed Mayawati had been "overly affectionate" and said her coming into a room and trying to kiss Julian had led to him becoming "riled up".

Kelly Pitt, 44 At the time of Kelly Pitt's murder, her son Lewis Bush, then 26, was subject to bail conditions for assaulting her, and he had been banned from contacting her.

He had multiple previous convictions, including for battery against his mother and sister, and Pitt had repeatedly reported him for coming to her house and acting aggressively.

In May 2023, Pitt called her daughter, and Bush could be heard in the background verbally abusing her. Two days later she was found on a blood-soaked bed, having died from blunt-force trauma to the head, neck and trunk, with internal bleeding and 41 rib fractures.

Bush was sentenced to life in prison for murder with a minimum term of 16 years.

Bhajan Kaur, 76 Sundeep Singh, 48, was living in his car outside his mother's home and had been arrested on suspicion of controlling and coercive behaviour before he killed her in May 2024. He wrongly believed the family home in Leicester had been left to him by his late father, and this caused arguments with his mother, Bhajan Kaur, and the wider family.