Man killed his own grandmother in stabbing frenzy while she slept at home
A man has been jailed after breaking into his grandmother’s house and viciously stabbing her to death while she was asleep in bed.
Alison Stevenson, 62, had always tried to help Cameron Dancey-Stevenson overcome his ‘difficulties’ and care for him, a trial heard.
But the 27-year-old brutally murdered his own grandparent at her home in Cornwall in May 2021.
The court heard how Alison still ‘loved’ her grandson, even after he had attacked her on a previous occasion and was handed a restraining order.
Despite doing ‘everything she could’ to support him, Dancey-Stevenson still held a grudge over the order and carried out a fatal frenzied knife attack.
His family say they will never forgive him for the attack as he was found guilty at Exeter Crown Court on Tuesday and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 18 years today.
On May 25, 2021, he broke in through a window of Ms Stevenson’s home in Helston, grabbed a knife from the kitchen and started stabbing her in the neck while she lay in bed sleeping.
After he had killed her, Dancey-Stevenson then spent ‘many hours’ at the house trying to wash away forensic evidence – and then later blamed a ‘fictitious’ man for killing her.
A statement from the victim’s daughter, Marina Stevenson, was read out in court in which she described her mother as ‘caring and loving’ and that she’d done ‘everything she could’ to support her grandson.
Speaking on behalf of the family, she told Dancey-Stevenson: ‘That word, grandson, a family member, her blood. You are no longer her grandson – you are her murderer.’
Marina said the family had struggled to come to terms with losing such a loving woman to such a ‘brutal act’.
She said: ‘This was made more devastating that it was you Cameron, her grandson, who she loved dearly.
‘She did all she could to help you. She did live in fear of you and what you would do if you didn’t get your own way.
‘In fact, you felt your entire family was against you – you never looked at all the things done for you. You only cared about yourself and what you were going to get out of it.’
Describing her terrifying ‘last few seconds as she was trying to defend herself from her grandson’, Marina said her mother would have been ‘extremely scared’ as she died ‘at his hands’.
Her sister, the defendant’s mother, has reportedly not slept since the attack and has endured ‘constant images’ in her mind.
Marina added: ‘She cannot comprehend how the child she brought into this world – loved, cherished and supported throughout his life – committed this horrendous act.
‘I hope you get the mental health support you need. I don’t think anyone else can support you more than Alison did.
‘You had the same advantages in life the rest of us had – but you always seemed to demand more of your mother and grandmother.
‘As a family we will never forgive you for your actions. You are a selfish man who knew, as you always did, what you were doing.’
Paying tribute to her mum, Marina said: ‘Alison was a daughter, sister, mother, aunt, niece, cousin and grandmother. She loved cooking, gardening and most importantly her family.
Nothing was too much trouble for Alison and she would help everyone. Everyone that knew her talks highly of her.’
In passing the minimum term, Judge Simon Carr said Alison was the sort of person who would put herself out to help others.
He said: ‘There was clear evidence that you were angry with her and blamed her for your predicament. You saw her as a cause of your problems – nothing could be further from the truth. She did everything she could to help and support you.’
Even after she had been attacked by Dancey-Stevenson, the judge said: ‘Throughout this time she never stopped loving you and worrying about you.
‘She occasionally allowed you to stay as you were often homeless. She knew this was in breach of the restraining order but she could not stand by and do nothing – such was the generosity of her character.’
Judge Carr told Dancey Stevenson that his grandmother had found it ‘increasingly difficult to address your behaviour’ and finally had no choice but for her own safety to instruct you to stay away from her house’.
Dancey-Stevenson, who is currently a patient at the Langdon Hospital in Dawlish, was told he would only be freed on parole after serving the minimum term if he was no longer deemed a danger to the public.
Earlier this year, a 51-year-old man admitted stabbing both of his own parents to death in a horrific attack at their home.
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