Former Winchester mayor cleared of ‘smothering mother with a pillow’

A former mayor of Winchester accused of smothering his dying mother with a pillow has been cleared of attempted murder after a judge ruled his confessions were “inherently unreliable”.

David McLean, 72, was accused of allegedly covering the face of his 92-year-old mother and uttering the words “sorry, Mum”.

Mr McLean said he had shown “compassion” to Margaret McLean as he “could not live with myself “ watching her suffer on her deathbed at home.

A court heard the former Mayor of Winchester, Hants, called himself a ‘murderer’ to authorities after the incident on Oct 6 2022, and confessed to her killing in subsequent police interviews.

However, halfway through Mr McLean’s three-week trial, he walked free on Thursday from Winchester Crown Court after a judge ruled there was “not enough evidence” for the jury to decide the case.

On Wednesday, Sarah Jones KC, Mr McLean’s barrister, argued he was suffering from an “acute stress reaction” at the time of the confessions – making them “likely to be unreliable”.

Ms Jones had made a similar argument on the opening day of the trial, saying: “We say this prosecution should not have been brought.

“We say that the evidence any crime was in fact committed is absent, or so fundamentally flawed it should be disregarded.”

‘A series of admission’

Although his mother died “at or around the time” of the smothering, prosecutors only alleged his actions were attempted murder because her condition was so grave she could have died at any time.

She had been bed-bound for “a number of years” at her home in Waltham Chase, near Bishop’s Waltham, Hants and suffered from a string of health problems that meant she could not communicate and had not had a “lucid conversation” in 18 months.

Accepting the arguments put forward by Ms Jones on Wednesday, Maura McGowan, the judge, said: “The case history is agreed Margaret McLean died on October 6, 2022.

“The defendant has since made a series of admissions that he had caused her death by placing a pillow or cushion over her face.”

Addressing the jury today, Mrs Justice McGowan said: “Having heard all the evidence in the case, in particular the evidence of the psychiatrist that the admissions are likely to be unreliable, I have taken the view there is not enough evidence for you to decide the case and reach a safe verdict.”

She directed the jury to find him not guilty to the charge of attempted murder and thanked them for their service in a “sensitive and unpleasant” case.

During the trial, Jodie Mittell, prosecuting, said the post-mortem concluded Mrs McLean died from “natural causes” and that there was “not enough evidence to prove he tried to suffocate his mother”.

She said a pathologist concluded the cause of death was bronchopneumonia and was “neutral” on whether it would have been possible for Mr McLean to try to smother his mother and for it to leave no evidence.

The trial had been shown body-worn video filmed by a firearms officer called to the house because the death had been reported as a murder after Mr McLean had told an NHS 111 operator that he had killed his mother.

Mr McLean, of Morley Drive, Bishop’s Waltham, was shown on the footage confirming his name and when asked if he was alright, he replied: “No, I am not alright, my mother is dead.”

Mr McLean served as the mayor of Winchester from 2017 to 2018.

In a police interview, he said his mother was a “war hero” and former company owner. He said his father was a chemical engineer who died 20 years ago.