Swedish woman sentenced manslaughter

26/11/2009

Today, at Luton Crown Court, Sabina Eriksson, 42, was sentenced for the Manslaughter of Glenn Hollinshead on 20 May 2008. Speaking after today's sentence Don Knapper, District Crown Prosecutor for CPS Staffordshire said:

"We would like to express our condolences to the family and friends of Mr Hollinshead following todays hearing.

Sabina Eriksson was arrested after walking in front of traffic on the M6 and assaulting a police officer. She was placed before the Stoke on Trents City Magistrates Court at Fenton, and sentenced to one days imprisonment, the equivalent of which had already been time spent in custody.

On the evening of her release Glenn Hollinshead was walking his dog and by chance encountered the defendant and acting as a good Samaritan offered Eriksson a place to stay.

Tragically he paid for this kindness with his life when she fatally stabbed him the following day. She fled the scene and then injured herself by striking herself on the head with a hammer, and jumping from a bridge above the A50, breaking her ankles and fracturing her skull.

The defendant pleaded guilty on the basis of diminished responsibility and this was accepted by the Prosecution, but this does not mitigate the loss felt by his family, or the pain the defendants actions has caused them. "