A young man who battered his mother and her partner over the head with a lump hammer as they lay in bed at their Coventry home has admitted carrying out the brutal attack.
But Joshua Nash has denied he was trying to kill the couple when he carried out the attack in September last year.
Nash (21) of Jardine Crescent, Tile Hill, Coventry, pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to the attempted murder of his mother Sinead Nash and her partner Robert Duffy.
He then pleaded guilty to two alternative charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Ms Nash and Mr Duffy with intent to cause them serious injury.
And prosecutor Sam Mainds said those pleas were accepted, and that when Nash is eventually sentenced it will be asked for the attempted murder charges to lie on the court file and not to be proceeded with.
The incident happened at some time after midnight on September 6 after Nash returned home, armed himself with a lump hammer and went upstairs to his mother’s bedroom.
He then attacked his mother and Mr Duffy by repeatedly hitting them over the head with the hammer, leaving them with severe head injuries.
Claire Evans, defending, said two psychiatric reports on Nash, who she pointed out had ‘a very limited criminal history,’ with just one conviction when he was 12, had already been served.
But she suggested: “Your Honour is going to be wanting to look at the issue of dangerousness, and I ask for an adjournment for a pre-sentence report.”
Miss Evans said Nash was currently on remand on the healthcare wing of HMP Brinsford, where he is unmedicated, but may be being moved to HMP Hewell following the hearing.
And she pointed out: “Our psychiatrist believes it would be prudent for him to be seen and assessed psychiatrically.”
Judge Sylvia de Bertodano observed it has been assessed that there needs to be a further report and Nash’s admission to the Reaside psychiatric clinic in Birmingham.
Ordering a pre-sentence report, the judge said: “I will list it for sentence, but it may well be there is a request for a further psychiatric report and a further adjournment.
“The psychiatric issues are something I will consider on the next occasion.”
Remanding Nash in custody, she told him: “The prosecution has accepted those pleas, and they are not proceeding on the attempted murder charges.
“There will have to be reports so I can consider the issue of dangerousness, and there may be a request for a further psychiatric report.
“I strongly recommend you co-operate with them, because it will be in your interests to do so.”
