Medics 'took no notice of red flags' before 21-year-old son stabbed his mother to death, devastated family say
- Williams committed attack after mental health was misdiagnosed as autism
The devastated family of a man with untreated paranoid schizophrenia who stabbed his mother to death said medical professionals 'took no notice of the red flags' after he displayed worrying behaviours just months before the violent assault.
Alan Williams, 23, committed the horrific knife attack in May 2022 after his deteriorating mental health was misdiagnosed as autism.
Speaking to Liverpool Crown Court this week, Williams' grandfather Michael Delzell said: 'We knew this kind, considerate child through and through - this is not him. They took no notice of the red flags.
'I believe with all my heart that Alan does not need punishing in prison. He needs treatment and care.
'As a family, we would be punished again if Alan went to prison and not to hospital. We just want out kind, considerate grandchild back, no matter how long it takes.'
Alan Williams stabbed his mother Lorraine Cullen to death in her own home on Radway Road in Huyton while under the belief that she was planning to kill his little sister
Williams' devastated family told Liverpool Crown Court on Monday that medical professionals 'took no notice of the red flags' after he displayed worrying behaviours just months before the violent assault
Williams' older sister Kayleigh Williams fought back tears as she said in a statement: 'Everyone that knows him knows how much of a gentle kind soul he is and how much he adores his mum'.
'He would confide in me. He would be confused about how he thought people were following him near Primark.
'I would reason with him and say, 'why would people be following you?'. But he did genuinely think these things were true.'
'They have taken by brother and my mum away from me and tore my family apart', Ms Williams said of the medical professionals who misdiagnosed her brother.
The man, who was in fact suffering from paranoid schizophrenia had the delusional fear his mother Lorraine Cullen, 43, intended to harm his eight-year-old sister.
Williams's treating forensic psychiatrist Dr Melanie Higgins told Liverpool Crown Court (pictured) on Monday his diagnosis of autism 'was a catastrophic misdiagnosis'
Williams then brutally attacked his beloved mother with two or three knives in the living room of her home in Huyton, Liverpool.
The man, who was 21 at the time, was detained under the Mental Health Act and has been held in a high-security in-patient hospital since the killing.
Williams's treating forensic psychiatrist Dr Melanie Higgins told the court that his diagnosis of autism three years earlier 'was a catastrophic misdiagnosis'.
She said the mistake lead to multiple missed opportunities to treat his paranoid schizophrenia that he had been suffering from for a number of years.
In 2021 Williams was admitted to the Coniston ward at the Knowsley Resource and Recovery Centre near St Helens.
However Dr Higgins stated in court: 'Despite noting multiple bizarre behaviours, and concerns raised by the family, no diagnosis is made, other than the diagnosis of autism being taken as fact, and no treatment is offered, although a recommendation is made that he be followed up by the Early Intervention Team.'
She added: 'They (the family) were mocked for trying to get him help. It was very poor clinical care indeed.'
Williams admitted attacking his mother with whom he had been very close when he was deemed fit for interview.
Prosecutor Richard Pratt KC said: 'He said that he believed his mother was intending to kill his sister, either by drowning in her bath or 'snapping her neck'.
'He accepted in interview that his beliefs were delusional.'
The prosecutor also described how after the attack Williams called his grandmother Angela Dalzell, to who he confessed that he had 'killed his mother by hitting her on the head' and said that she was 'in a better place'.
His grandfather, Michale Dalzell, then drove to his daughter's house as a result and found her lying face down in a pool of blood in the living room and covered by a quilt.
Ms Cullen suffered 30 wounds concentrated to the back of her head and neck. She also had defensive injuries to her hands and arms as she desperately tried to fend off the attack.
The 43-year-old mother was pronounced dead at the scene.
Dr Higgins said that Williams, who was described as intelligent and without any previous convictions, 'felt he had no option and if he did not act he would miss the opportunity to save his sister.
'It was a terrible decision he felt he had to make.'
She said that Williams eventually and spontaneously realised he had been acting under a delusion and describes his attack as 'shameful'.
Williams was described by his heart broken relatives, including his older heart-broken sister Kayleigh, as kind and caring.
She said he is a gentle, sensitive man who truly adored their mum.
Mr Dalzell added that his grandson had 'cared for his mother a great deal' and said they paid had a 'loving, happy bond'.
However, he recalled how Williams' mental state began declining around August 2021, saying: 'It appeared as though a switch had gone off in his head. He became confused'.
Worrying incidents detailed to the court included him hearing a 'voice in the TV which told him to walk into the woods', a belief that he was being poisoned by his grandmother and 'writing on all mirrors in the house with a black marker pen'.
His sentencing on Monday came just a day before his 24th birthday.
