Face of detained 18-year-old who attacked his mother in Smethwick
This is the face of 18-year-old Jonan Walker who has been detained for attacking his mother and leaving her for dead at their Smethwick home.
Walker was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act for attacking his mother Ursula while she prepared him a late-night meal at the the family's home in St Paul's Road, in Smethwick, on March 25, 2025.
The 56-year-old was found lying on the floor and blood soaked by another of her children after suffering a one-inch wound to her neck, a broken nose and fractured eye sockets during the assault in the kitchen of the semi-detached house.
The injuries to her face were so severe that she was sedated at the scene by the West Midlands Ambulance crew which attended the property before taking her to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital for surgery in the aftermath.
She spent six days was in intensive care and was discharged from hospital four weeks later.
Walker had initially been standing trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court accused of attempted murder and wounding with intent.
However, the matter was brought to a halt following psychiatric assessments and Judge Barry Berlin ordered that the defendant be detained under under Section 41 of the Mental Health Act.
After the incident he fled barefoot to nearby Smethwick's Galton Bridge Railway Station, in Oldbury Road, where he was captured on film running around the deserted platform before scaling a barrier and heading into the track tunnel.
As a result train services were halted before a police helicopter crew using heat-seeking gear spotted him on waste ground near the tracks where he was arrested by officers on the ground.
Subsequent checks of his bedroom and his phone uncovered he had been ordering sweets containing cannabis and he had made internet searches about Middle Eastern witchcraft, "human sacrifice" and manipulation techniques.
The court also heard from a psychiatrist who said Walker had been experienced auditory hallucinations or hearing "voices".
