Estranged son beat elderly mother to death, court told

An 87-year-old woman appeared scared of her son when he turned up at her door unannounced a week before her death, a jury has been told.

Brenda Breed was found dead at her home in Somerset on 22 July 2025 with injuries so severe she was unrecognisable.

Richard Breed, who has schizophrenia, has admitted his mother’s manslaughter but denies her murder and is on trial at Bristol Crown Court.

The jury was told earlier that the 62-year-old had been in Australia for 25 years before arriving at his mother’s house in Westzoyland a week before prosecutors say he beat her to death.

Brenda Breed’s cleaner Karen Morris told the court the victim had appeared “upset and seemed to be shaking” a week before her death when she said her son had turned up unexpectedly the day before.

Morris said Brenda Breed had not recognised the defendant, from whom she was estranged and whose head and face is mostly covered by a blue tribal tattoo.

“She seemed very concerned that he was there,” Morris said.

A week later, Morris arrived to clean Brenda Breed’s house but no-one answered the door.

She told the jury she heard strange grunting noises from the spare bedroom where Richard Breed was staying, which made her feel uncomfortable.

Morris enlisted the help of Sandra Anderson, a close friend of Brenda Breed who lived nearby, and Anderson’s grandson Joshua Martin. When they returned to the house, they found the back door was unlocked.

Martin called the police after spotting Brenda Breed’s body through the curtains.

“In that moment, it was very clear she wasn’t moving,” he told the jury. “I had to see what had happened — for Brenda’s sake.”

Armed with a piece of wood to defend himself, Martin went into the house and saw Brenda Breed slumped in an armchair. He said her face was bruised and bloody and had a cloth over it.

“She was unrecognisable,” Martin said. “I could not have confirmed that it was her when I first saw her.”

Visibly shaken, he came back out of the house and vomited, but at the request of the call handler went back in to check her pulse, which confirmed she had died.

Martin stayed on the phone to the police until officers arrived, prompting thanks from Judge Julian Lambert, who described his actions as “courageous and humane”.

Officers who arrived at the scene found Richard Breed unconscious in his bed under his duvet, with blood on his hands.

It was suspected he had taken an overdose and he was unresponsive while being arrested. He regained consciousness in the ambulance on the way to hospital about two hours later.

Evidence from the post-mortem examination suggested Brenda Breed had been beaten and choked to death.

Richard Breed appeared in the dock in an orange fleece, and often lounged to the side during evidence earlier.

The trial, which is estimated to last three weeks, continues.

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