GIVING BIRTH TO YOUR KILLER

In the UK alone, 172 mothers have been slain by their sons in the last 15 years

-  FRANCES LEATE

'NO REMORSE' My brother murdered our mum over a bacon sarnie... I'm haunted by guilt after she rang me during attack and I didn't call 999

Newport murder: Life for man who murdered his mum

For most mothers, the thought of their child ever harming them seems unimaginable, but women are becoming the prime targets of their abusive, even dangerous sons, more often than we realise.

Alex Iszatt, behavioural criminologist, says, 'Matricide is one of the most brutal forms of murder, made even more disturbing by the fact that it violates one of the most fundamental human bonds - the relationship between mother and child.'

Perpetrators in 90% of parricide cases - the killing of a parent - are overwhelmingly sons, not daughters, and the 2,000 Women report by the Femicide Census shows that in 172 cases of matricide, women were killed by their own sons.

'There is a warped paradox at play because the woman who gave life becomes, in the killer's mind, the one preventing them from truly living,' Alex adds, claiming other factors like mental illness, substance abuse, and financial stress can escalate tensions. She said, 'When these pressures collide with deep-seated resentment, the mother-child relationship can become a ticking time bomb.'

Although still rare, shocking occurrences of matricide have increased by more than a third in nearly two decades. It's a disturbing issue in the UK that urgently needs to be addressed.

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