Son suspected of killing mother and sister 'had begged to stay locked up in mental hospital'

A man said to have been released from a secure mental hospital against his wishes was yesterday being questioned over the murders of his mother and sister.
John Jenkin, 23, had been sectioned after an apparent suicide attempt in the week before the double murder.
According to a relative, he had a history of mental health problems and had pleaded in vain to be kept locked up because he feared harming himself or someone else.

Katie Jenkin, left, and her mother were found dead at family home in Millom. John Jenkin, right, who was arrested on suspicion of murder, was released from a secure mental hospital against his wishes

Police were called to the family’s terraced house in Millom, Cumbria, at 8.40am on Saturday and found the bodies of Alice McMeekin, 58, and her university student daughter Katie Jenkin, 20.
The family’s new pet collie, Fenn, was also killed. Jenkin, who was described as a Goth, was arrested nearby on suspicion of murder.
He was said to have doted on his mother and younger sister, but the heavy metal fan was also obsessed with the occult.
Cumbria police have not revealed how the women died, although no gun was used in the murders.
Friends and neighbours were shocked by the murders of the  animal-loving divorced mother-of- two and her daughter, who was  studying in South Wales and was on  a weekend visit home.
Yesterday a neighbour recalled seeing the suspect in the street at 3am on Saturday and also hearing screams coming from the pebble-dashed house.
‘I was coming back home at 3am with my girlfriend and I was walking up the back street and he was walking around and I looked at his face and it was like looking into space, there was nothing there,’ he said.
‘Then I went home and I heard a lot of screams. It sounded like the screams of a dog. I went into my backyard and I heard these piercing screams I will never forget.’
He did not contact the police, but more noise was heard at around 8am. ‘It sounded like someone telling a dog to shut up,’ said the neighbour.

Police discovered the bodies at the family home and have not revealed how the two women died

Police were called and found the bodies. Jenkin, who is unemployed, spent much of his time on his computer and listening to music. According to a relative, he had suffered mental health problems for some time.
‘He’s had a very dark past, but I don’t want people to think he is some kind of monster, I just feel sorry for him,’ she said.
The relative said he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act for attempting to slit his wrists and then allowed home again in the days before the tragedy.
She said he had told health workers that he feared he would harm himself or someone else if he did not stay in a secure psychiatric unit. ‘John begged people for help, but he didn’t get it,’ she said.
Friends said John Jenkin was close to his family. One friend, who asked not to be named, said: ‘He idolised his mum and his sister. His little sister was his world, and his mum was too. They all looked after each other. He was a good kid, never one of those to go out and get into trouble.’
Mrs McMeekin was brought up in Millom and was the daughter of a greengrocer. She moved to Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, four years ago ‘to give her kids a better life’, but returned to her home town with John 12 weeks ago.
She worked for the prison service and ‘would do anything for anybody’, according to the friend.
Katie, who was in a steady relationship with a boyfriend, stayed in Wales to continue her media studies course. ‘She was a happy, beautiful girl with the world in front of her,’ said the friend.
She recalled chatting on Friday to Mrs McMeekin, who was looking forward to her daughter’s visit.

DAILYMAIL