Man sentenced for attack on his parents

A middle-aged man who attacked his parents after breaking into their home in Cheshire in the early hours of the morning has been sentenced.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that Ed Linse, 51, from Watford, attacked his father and mother, who are both in their 80s, after breaking into their home in Nether Alderley on 22 April 2022.

Mr Linse broke into his parent's home by kicking his way through the external porch door and destroying it.

He attacked his father in his bedroom and, as a result, his father received serious wounds to his head, ear and hand. He also suffered a bleed on the brain.

Linse then moved into the room where his mother was and struck her to the head, leaving her with a lump and bruising on her back. After the attack, Mr Linse drove away. His mother was able to phone 999 and the police came.

Mr Linse was arrested in his car near Woodstock in Oxfordshire. When interviewed by the police he gave vague and sometimes incoherent responses, neither denying nor admitting responsibility for the attack.

On 12 October 2022, at Chester Crown Court, Mr Linse pleaded guilty to the wounding with intent of his father and the assault by beating of his mother.

He was sentenced on 7 November 2022 at Chester Crown Court, to a hospital order, following psychiatric reports.

The court heard that Mr Linse had a strained relationship with his parents for most of his life.

His mother described how, despite now being 51 years old, he continually talked of how unhappy he was when he was sent away to boarding school as a child.  She described how he has had a “bitter feeling” towards them ever since.

There had also been a number of financial issues and his parents had tried to help him out. But other family members felt that the parents were being exploited by Linse and were being coerced into giving him money.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Angie Rowan, of CPS Mersey Cheshire, said: “This is a very sad case where a man has attacked his parents who have been trying to help him, over several years.

“Linse claimed to resent his parents because they had sent him to boarding school as a child. Whatever the issues around this were, he subjected his parents to years of both emotional and financial abuse.

“This culminated in a brutal assault on his mother and father, in the early hours of 22 April. They survived the assault but no doubt the effects of this incident will be long lasting. A very sad case indeed.”