A man who brutally attacked his ex-partner and her daughter with a hammer and a knife has been found guilty of attempted murder.

Gerard Parkinson inexplicably lashed out at Jennifer and Nicole Higgins while living at their home in Swanley.

The 63-year-old first struck a blow with the mallet to the back of Mrs Higgins' head as she was reaching for a Milky Way bar from a kitchen cupboard.

Then, leaving the grandmother bleeding and unconscious on the floor, he took the heavy tool and a knife upstairs to where her daughter was asleep in bed.

Jurors at Maidstone Crown Court heard that despite waking in pain, panic and bleeding from her head and a stab wound to her upper chest, she managed to fight back as Parkinson aimed further blows at her.

At one point a courageous Ms Higgins was even able to disarm him of the mallet and strike back as her cries for help alerted others.

But an undeterred Parkinson tried to continue his violent assault before being eventually tackled and restrained by a hero neighbour.

Although he later admitted attacking the pair and pleaded guilty to two offences of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, he denied he had been trying to kill them.

At trial he bizarrely claimed that in the moments before launching his assault on Mrs Higgins, he had hallucinated and seen a Grim Reaper-type figure pointing to what he thought was a grave and then at his former partner.

Parkinson told jurors he believed the shadowy vision was telling him "you or her", and had then also beckoned him upstairs.

But the jury of six men and six women rejected his account today (March 31) when, after approximately five hours of deliberations, they convicted him of two offences of attempted murder.

Parkinson, of Parkhill Road, Sidcup, will now be sentenced for those matters as well as charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and perverting the course of justice by Judge Catherine Moore once reports on his ongoing health have been prepared.

He was not in the dock for the verdicts but on a link from the Trevor Gibbens psychiatric unit in Maidstone where he is currently remanded.

During his trial the court heard that although his nine-year relationship with Mrs Higgins had ended some time prior to the attack on March 1, 2023, he would stay "on and off" at her home in Bonney Way.

On that day, Parkinson was said to be "agitated" as he followed his ex-partner around the house as she was tidying up.

It was at around 11am when she decided to take a break with a cup of tea and a chocolate snack that she suddenly felt what she later described as "a thud" to her head.

Having rendered Mrs Higgins unconscious, Parkinson then turned his murderous attention to her daughter.

In an interview video recorded by police at her hospital bedside and played to jurors, Ms Higgins explained how she woke up to heavy breathing in her face, the feeling of "instant and overwhelming" pain in her head and neck, and a trickling sensation of blood before realising she was under attack from Parkinson.

She described her mum's ex-boyfriend as being "absolutely deranged" and intent on killing her as he repeatedly swung the rubber mallet at her head and lashed out with a knife.

Ms Higgins was eventually able to flee, collapsing in her pyjamas on the pavement outside.

Meanwhile, her mother had regained consciousness in the kitchen, unaware of the horror that was unfolding.

Initially unable to move or speak, she believed that she had suffered a stroke.

But having managed to drag herself to her front door, she was attacked for a second time as Parkinson, by now back downstairs and still wielding the hammer, grabbed her violently by her hair.

It was as he grappled with his ex-partner, trying to strike her again, that neighbour Christopher King bravely intervened, disarmed Parkinson, who was also bleeding, and then sat on him while others alerted police and paramedics.

Both he and the Higgins women were taken to London's King's College Hospital for treatment.

Mrs Higgins' head wound needed stitching, as did her daughter's injury to her face. Ms Higgins also suffered a collapsed lung from her stab wound and defensive cuts to her hands caused as she desperately tried to fend off her attacker.

He looked wild. He looked angry. I thank God someone was there to stop him

Mrs Higgins later told police that she believed her former partner would have "finished her off" had she not regained consciousness.

Describing how he had "hatred in his face" as he confronted her on the threshold of her house, she said: "Gerard came down with the hammer in his hand.

"He was trying to hit me with the hammer and grabbed my hair....He looked wild. He looked angry. I thank God someone was there to stop him."

She also recalled the "horrific" sight of her daughter, and added that but for the heroic actions of Mr King she believed they would have both been killed.

Parkinson was initially arrested at the scene and on caution replied "She hit me with a hammer", pointing at Ms Higgins. the court was told.

When subsequently re-arrested for attempted murder, he told police "No, no. I didn't do that".

He later recalled his last memory being in Cornwall on holiday with the family and buying a hammer to fix his car.

Parkinson told the jury he did not remember picking up the tool and hitting his ex-partner.

He also said the knife had been in his pocket "for weeks" and was used for carving avocados.

The assault charge he pleaded guilty to relates to an injury caused in the same incident to a victim who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The perverting justice offence is in respect of calls he made to Mrs Higgins from custody in a bid to persuade her to withdraw her support for the prosecution.

The court heard two others who helped to organise that contact also face legal proceedings.

Parkinson was remanded back into custody to await sentencing pending reports to assess dangerousness and the possibility of being detained under the Mental Health Act.