Hassocks; Man Committed Over Stabbing

A Sussex man was today, Monday 22 July, committed to a secure hospital after admitting the manslaughter of a visitor to his Hassocks flat in August last year.

Kayden Smith, 28, of Belmont Close, Hassocks, appeared at Lewes Crown Court, and was given an indeterminate hospital order under Section 41 of the Mental Health Act, for the manslaughter of Jan Jensen, 52, a tattoo artist, from Aalborg, Denmark, whose body was found in Smith's flat at Anderson Court in Belmont Close, Hassocks, on the afternoon of Thursday 9 August last year.
 
On Tuesday 18 June Smith had pleaded not guilty to murder, and his plea of guilty to manslaughter through of diminished responsibility was accepted by the Crown.
 
A postmortem examination revealed that Mr Jensen suffered a single stab wound to his chest and a knife was recovered from the scene. It is believed he died shortly before police arrived. Smith was arrested by local uniform officers, without resisting, immediately outside the block of flats.
 
Jensen and Smith had met a few days beforehand when both were voluntary patients at Langley Green Hospital in Crawley. Smith invited Jensen back to his flat to stay the previous afternoon.
 
Detective Chief Inspector Ian Pollard of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, said; "This was a tragic case. Both men had clearly been suffering mental health problems. Smith had been admitted to hospital at the beginning of August and Jensen, who has been found wandering at Gatwick Airport on 19 July, was admitted at around the same time having been in other local hospitals in the meantime. They were in the same ward, receiving treatment for their conditions, on a voluntary basis.
 
"Both left the hospital on the afternoon of Wednesday 8 August and at Smith's invitation they made their way back to his flat where they spent the night. Clearly, Smith was suffering severe delusions and in the early afternoon of Thursday he stabbed Jensen who police officers found dead, sitting in a chair.
 
"The death has left Mr Jensen's family in Denmark deeply distressed. The exact motive for his travel to the UK, where he arrived at Gatwick and went to London before coming back to Gatwick a couple of days later, will never be clear. But the tragic outcome has robbed them of their loved one and our thoughts are with them at this time."