Delroy Forrester detained indefinitely in secure hospital after killing great-niece Jasmine

Unemployed Delroy Forrester launched the frenzied attack hours after his daughter Tyler called for help from a hospital crisis team.

The defenceless child had nearly 100 separate sites of injury throughout her body, with over half around her head and neck, after the sickening beating at the hands of the 51-year-old in the home of his mother Victoria, aged 79, in Kent Road, Parkfields, where both were staying on the ill fated night.

Psychiatrist Dr Dinesh Maganty told Wolverhampton Crown Court that the defendant was suffering from a 'perfect storm' of mental health symptoms when launching the onslaught.

Judge James Burbidge QC said while passing sentence: "The full details of what went on may not be entirely known but in the days before the ferocious attack you had descended into a deep mental health psychosis and you caused considerable injury with broken pieces of furniture.

"You had looked a 'bit funny' before you started to be violent towards your mother and Jasmine.

"Your mother had a premonition that something was seriously wrong and left the child with you as she rushed for help."

Hours before the attack the defendant's daughter Tyler called for assistance from a mental health crisis team at Wolverhampton’s Penn Hospital and warned: ‘You had better make sure he doesn’t kill my nan tonight’ when they declined to offer assistance after she told them she was not at risk and did not have his permission to speak to them.

Another call made by her to the 111 emergency helpline was also fruitless because staff were unwilling to discuss the case without him either giving permission for the conversation or being present when she phoned.

Delroy Forrester had a brain tumour removed in his 30s leaving him with epilepsy. Further recent examination had shown a recurrence of the tumour which was allegedly linked to the mental decline that cost Jasmine her life on February 9.

His mother rushed to a neighbour’s to raise the alarm when he became violent, slapping both her and the child.

Jonathan Rees QC, prosecuting, revealed: “She then heard Jasmine scream. She told the neighbour Delroy was dragging and throwing her grand daughter around the living room.”

Armed police arrived around 1.10am to find the defendant straddling Jasmine in the doorway with a broken chair leg in his right hand. He allegedly told them: ‘The devil had to die. I kill her bud.’

Delroy Forrester was acquitted of murder by a jury but convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and had been remanded in custody for pre sentence reports. He admitted that the 11-year-old died at his hands but had denied both charges claiming to be insane when the attack took place.

Jasmine's father Simeon Forrester, aged 30, who has two other children aged 10 and five, told the Express & Star after the verdict: "I can never forgive Delroy for what he did. I hate him. From the evidence I have seen I accept that something was wrong with him although I believe those on his side were trying to overplay it for the jury. I would still have liked him to be sent to prison rather than a high security psychiatric hospital but I am not trained to judge court cases.

"I blame other people more than him. He was seeking help and, while some members of the family did their best to intervene."

Mr Forrester, who lives on the opposite side of the street to the address where the killing took place, added: "He had been staying at his mother’s house for a week because of concern about his mental condition, on the understanding he would be taken for medical assistance."

He continued: "I am not saying the crisis team or emergency helpline did anything wrong. They were just following protocol.

"My daughter was a beautiful child. She was the best and the amount of injuries she suffered was horrifying. There could never be justification for that level of violence, even if the culprit was mentally ill."