A ‘highly manipulative’ gambling addict tried to murder his mother by smothering her with a pillow as she slept. Susan Robb woke up to find her son Thomas trying to kill her, in the home in Middleton which she shared with her husband and their only child.
Robb, who had displayed ‘contempt’ for his 62-year-old mother in the lead up to the horrifying attack, had racked up significant gambling debts and believed killing her would help him financially. He had been due to receive about £128,000 from the sale of his mother’s parents home, but the windfall was instead set aside for Robb’s two children.
Manchester Crown Court heard that Mrs Robb was able to fight her son off during the attack and call her husband, who was sleeping in another bedroom. Thomas Robb, 28, has now been jailed for 17 years after being found guilty of attempted murder. “You thought that your mother’s death gave you at least the chance of getting your hands on money you regarded as yours,” Judge Nicholas Dean KC told Robb.
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“You are, or you certainly were in April last year, a highly manipulative man. It is my conclusion that you attempted to kill your mother in the expectation that you would be able to manipulate the circumstances following her death to your financial advantage. This was an attempted murder which in my view was motivated at least by the hope of financial gain.”
Prosecutors told how Robb had built up substantial gambling debts over the years. He had ‘betrayed’ family and friends and his parents were ‘at best tolerating’ him living in their home, the court heard.
He had lost his job and the relationship with the mother of his children had broken down because of his ‘obsession’. Robb then returned to live with his parents. His behaviour had ‘clearly tested the limits of their love for you’, the judge said.
Robb had previously stolen money from his parents, but they allowed him to remain living with them. It was also discovered that he had tried to take out loans in his their names.
On April 19 last year, the trio had their evening meal together before Robb went upstairs to his room and his parents watched TV downstairs, prosecutor Huw Edwards said.
Phone records revealed that during the evening Robb had been searching online about suffocation. Search terms included ‘how much would it hurt to suffocate with a pillow?’ and ‘how long would it take?’
The searches were made between 9.47pm and 3.52am in the early hours of the following morning, shortly before he tried to murder his mother. Mrs Robb recalled waking up and finding someone with a pillow over her face.
She fought for her life and managed to bite her son’s hand. She then used her chance to shout out for her husband for help. “He’s just tried to kill me!,” she said.
The police were called and Robb was arrested. He denied trying to harm her and during his trial sought to portray her as a ‘hopeless alcoholic’ who ‘didn’t know what she was saying’, the judge said.
But he was found guilty of attempted murder after a trial. The judge described Robb’s claims that his internet searches related to a TV show as being ‘absurd’.
Defending, Gareth Roberts said ‘ironically’ it appeared that Robb had been brought up well and ‘at some point’ had a relationship with his parents. He said Robb’s life had been ‘completely distorted’ by his ‘obsession’ with gambling.
“It’s a tragic story which these courts hear quite often,” Mr Roberts said. Robb, of Pine Street, Middleton, will serve two-thirds of his sentence behind bars.