Woman Guilty Of Killing Her Parents

21 July 2010, 17:11 | Updated: 22 July 2010, 07:07

A woman has been found guilty of killing both her parents at their Bournemouth home.

Arthur and Joan Toop were found dead at the bungalow in Uplands Road in November 2008.

Officers also found their 53-year-old daughter Susan Toop with self-inflicted wounds to her wrists and throat.

Officers had attended the property after receiving several phone calls from neighbours worried about the welfare of the occupants who they were unable to contact.

A forensic post mortem was carried out on the elderly couple and concluded that Arthur Robert Toop died of multiple blunt force head and sharp force chest injuries while his wife Joan Susan Eleanor Toop died of multiple blunt force head injuries.

Today, a jury found Susan - who worked as a ward nurse at Bournemouth Hospital, guilty of both of their murders.

Detective Inspector Neil Devoto, of Dorset Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team, said: "This was a shocking and unusual crime in which two elderly and innocent people lost their lives as a result of a sustained and frenzied attack by their daughter.

"It was accepted in court that Susan Toop had suffered from a mental disorder for a number of years. However, the jury felt that this was not the cause of the events of that night.

"Susan Toop’s actions were calculated and deliberate. The fact that someone who spent so much of her life working as a nurse and caring for others could be responsible for killing two vulnerable people makes this all the more alarming.

"From the very instant that the attending officers were greeted with the disturbing scene at Uplands Road, Dorset Police was determined to ensure that Susan Toop was called to account for her fatal actions.

"This is a tragedy for family and friends and my thoughts are with them at this difficult time."

Susan Toop will be sentenced on September 30th.