A son has appeared in court after it is alleged he stabbed his mum in the neck with a serrated knife and “stamped” on her head.

Jamie Burnett has denied killing Lesley Spearing at her home in Oast View Terrace, Rainham, on October 10, 2019.

Burnett, who suffers from schizophrenia and psychosis, was previously deemed unfit to plea and stand trial by a judge in 2020.

However, a murder trial has now started this week at Maidstone Crown Court and the 32-year-old has denied both murder and manslaughter.

Opening the proceedings, prosecutor Daniel Stevenson told the jury that Burnett did not live with his mother in Rainham but was visiting the evening she died.

He said he had come to the house around 12.45pm and spent the day with his cousin Kiri Burnett who lived there with his mum and brother Stephen Burnett.

The court heard evidence from Kiri Burnett today (February 28) who said the defendant was acting “strange” and remembered texting her aunt at around 7pm asking when he was going to leave.

She said: “I told her [Ms Spearing] I did not like what Jamie was doing. She decided to stay home and not go out [to darts] because of his behaviour.”

Ms Burnett said she then went upstairs to her room on the top floor when around 8.20pm she heard a “scream”.

She told the court: “It was not an ordinary scream. It was a real ‘I am in need’ scream, a horrific scream.

“Immediately after, I heard the noise of pots and pans crashing together, hitting the floor. I leapt up and I ran downstairs to see why she was screaming and what the problem was.”

Ms Burnett said when she got to the kitchen, she saw the defendant and his brother Stephen “wrestling” and saw Burnett was holding a knife.

She told the jury Ms Spearing shouted at her to call an ambulance so she left the room to get her phone and rang 999.

She added: “I was frightened for my own life and Stephen and Lesley’s lives. At that point, I believed Stephen had been stabbed and Lesley after. I thought I was going to be next.”

While Ms Burnett was on the phone, she said her cousin was able to get the defendant out of the house and went to get their next-door neighbour for help while she started CPR on her aunt.

In his opening statement, Mr Stevenson claimed that Burnett, who was 27 years old at the time, had stabbed his mother in the neck with a serrated knife when Mr Burnett and Ms Burnett heard her scream.

He said Mr Burnett ran downstairs where his mum was screaming “get off” and then started to fight his brother to get him away from Ms Spearing.

Mr Stevenson claims the defendant also “stamped” on Ms Spearing’s head during the altercations.

After fleeing the scene, it is claimed Burnett walked along Rainham High Street and wrote comments in blood in a car showroom window and on the pavement.

The trial, which is being presided over by Judge Philip St John-Stevens, continues.