By . Arthur Martin . Denied: Nicola Edgington, 32, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Sally Hodkin, 58, and the attempted murder of Kerry Clark, 22 . A schizophrenic patient who stabbed a passer-by to death with a 12in butcher's knife had been released from a secure mental hospital just two years earlier after killing her mother, the Old Bailey heard today. Law firm accounts manager Sally Hodkin, 58, was on her way to work when she suffered a fatal cut to her neck from a butcher’s knife during the attack by Nicola Edgington, who was being treated in the community. Minutes earlier Edgington, who was being monitored by a psychiatrist, nurse and social worker, had attacked another woman, Kerry Clark, but the 22-year-old was able to fight her off. Edgington, 32, had spent just three years in a secure hospital after admitting the manslaughter of her mother Marion, who she stabbed to death in November 2005. The following year she was given an indefinite hospital order and treated as an inpatient before being released in 2009. In October last year, Edgington, of Greenwich, south east London, went on the knife rampage in Bexleyheath, London, after she stopped taking her medication. Her condition had deteriorated and just hours earlier, she was taken to hospital - but walked out before she could be admitted as a voluntary inpatient. She denies murdering Mrs Hodkin, a grandmother, and attempting to murder Miss Clark, now 24. Mark Heywood QC, prosecuting, said: 'She approached and deliberately and viciously attacked each of them without warning, without any provocation. 'She used the weapon forcefully and purposefully in each attack. She was controlled and she was rational.’ Mr Heywood added: 'This case concerns two murderous attacks in the street with large knives. Attack: Meat Market in Bexleyheath where Edgington is alleged to have taken the knife . 'In each case the intention was to kill. The first victim survived because she fought her attacker off and took the knife away. 'The second person attacked, although she tried to defend herself with her bare hands, was unable to achieve that. ‘She was overwhelmed. She died almost immediately from the catastrophic injuries inflicted on her.’ Edgington had earlier made a series of 999 phone calls warning that she was 'dangerous' and wanted to kill someone in the hours before the attacks, the court heard. 'The content of these calls demonstrates that she said repeatedly that she might harm someone,' Mr Hewyood said. Stabbed: Sally Hodkin suffered a fatal cut to the death when she was attack on her way to work . Edgington had been taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich by police at 4.29am after a row with a cab driver in Greenwich. She told a nurse she had ‘not slept for weeks’, was worried about her children, and was hearing voices. Edgington was referred to the psychiatric team at Oxleas House in Greenwich and made the 999 calls while awaiting her transfer. Mr Heywood added: ‘She said she had a mental breakdown. She said she was scared she was dangerous and worried she might kill someone.’ At around 5.30am Edgington also told a psychiatric nurse she needed to be sectioned and an hour later she was taken to the Oxleas unit. She appeared calm but at around 7.05am she said: ‘I’m going to call my care coordinator’ and left the building, jurors heard. Edgington then took a bus to Bexleyheath and went into an Asda store to buy a large knife. At 9.29am she walked out of the store onto the Broadway where people were walking past on their way to work and children were heading to school. Kerry Clark was waiting for a bus to Dartford Heath while listening to music when Edgington confronted her, shouting: ‘You f****** bitch! You f****** bitch!’ Miss Clark fell backwards to avoid the knife and Edgington got on top of her on the ground. ‘The manner of her actions was described by one witness as ferocious,’ said Mr Heywood. ‘Her face was set and angry. ‘There was a struggle. Miss Clark was screaming 'What are you doing?' In a desperate attempt to save her own life, Miss Clark grabbed the blade of the knife firmly with her bare right hand as she wrestled with her attacker. Killed: The house in East Sussex where Marion Edgington's body was found in 2005 . ‘Had she not done so she would surely not have survived. After a few moments she somehow managed to loosen the other’s grip, taking the knife from her grasp and by sheer effort managed to free herself from underneath.’ Miss Clark then stood up and shouted: ‘What the f***’s wrong with you, you crazy b****?’ Edgington replied: ‘I’m not the crazy one - you’re the one with the knife in your hand.’ She demanded her knife back but after a short standoff walked away across the road. She then went into The British Meat Market at 195 Broadway and grabbed a 12-inch knife from a block. Mr Heywood said: ‘With it, she went on until she found another lady. She set upon her with the bigger knife, attacking her with such sustained force that her neck was cut completely open.” Manslaughter: Nicola Edgington stabbed her mother Marion, pictured, to death in 2005 . Edgington says her responsibility was diminished because of her mental state. But the prosecution reject the claim, saying she acted deliberately, intending to kill. Mr Heywood said she was treated as an inpatient for schizophrenia with emotionally unstable personality traits. The prosecution now says she suffers from a borderline personality disorder and her mental state is variable. From September 2009, she was living in a supported flat and, by October 2011, she was under the care of the Bracton Centre in Dartford and was reviewed regularly by a consultant psychiatrist, social supervisor and community psychiatric nurse. Mr Heywood told jurors: ‘The reason that the defendant was being treated as an inpatient between 2006 and 2009 is this - on November 4 2005 she returned from a night out with her brother and sister to their mother’s house. ‘Their mother was there alone. Once there she stabbed her mother and killed her, leaving the property and disappearing for three weeks.’ He said the jury will have ‘to consider the whole history in due course when you analyse her responsibility for her acts on this occasion. ‘One factor is that she has been through it all before. She therefore knew what to expect, what might happen should she kill again.” The trial continues. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.
Court hears Sally Hodkin died from fatal cut to the neck on her way to work .
Nicola Edgington had attacked another woman minutes earlier, jurors told .
Court told she left hospital hours earlier, before she could be admitted .
She was being cared for in the community and monitored by psychiatrists .
Edgington was released in 2009 after manslaughter of her mother in 2005 .
By . Arthur Martin . Denied: Nicola Edgington, 32, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Sally Hodkin, 58, and the attempted murder of Kerry Clark, 22 . A schizophrenic patient who stabbed a passer-by to death with a 12in butcher's knife had been released from a secure mental hospital just two years earlier after killing her mother, the Old Bailey heard today. Law firm accounts manager Sally Hodkin, 58, was on her way to work when she suffered a fatal cut to her neck from a butcher’s knife during the attack by Nicola Edgington, who was being treated in the community. Minutes earlier Edgington, who was being monitored by a psychiatrist, nurse and social worker, had attacked another woman, Kerry Clark, but the 22-year-old was able to fight her off. Edgington, 32, had spent just three years in a secure hospital after admitting the manslaughter of her mother Marion, who she stabbed to death in November 2005. The following year she was given an indefinite hospital order and treated as an inpatient before being released in 2009. In October last year, Edgington, of Greenwich, south east London, went on the knife rampage in Bexleyheath, London, after she stopped taking her medication. Her condition had deteriorated and just hours earlier, she was taken to hospital - but walked out before she could be admitted as a voluntary inpatient. She denies murdering Mrs Hodkin, a grandmother, and attempting to murder Miss Clark, now 24. Mark Heywood QC, prosecuting, said: 'She approached and deliberately and viciously attacked each of them without warning, without any provocation. 'She used the weapon forcefully and purposefully in each attack. She was controlled and she was rational.’ Mr Heywood added: 'This case concerns two murderous attacks in the street with large knives. Attack: Meat Market in Bexleyheath where Edgington is alleged to have taken the knife . 'In each case the intention was to kill. The first victim survived because she fought her attacker off and took the knife away. 'The second person attacked, although she tried to defend herself with her bare hands, was unable to achieve that. ‘She was overwhelmed. She died almost immediately from the catastrophic injuries inflicted on her.’ Edgington had earlier made a series of 999 phone calls warning that she was 'dangerous' and wanted to kill someone in the hours before the attacks, the court heard. 'The content of these calls demonstrates that she said repeatedly that she might harm someone,' Mr Hewyood said. Stabbed: Sally Hodkin suffered a fatal cut to the death when she was attack on her way to work . Edgington had been taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich by police at 4.29am after a row with a cab driver in Greenwich. She told a nurse she had ‘not slept for weeks’, was worried about her children, and was hearing voices. Edgington was referred to the psychiatric team at Oxleas House in Greenwich and made the 999 calls while awaiting her transfer. Mr Heywood added: ‘She said she had a mental breakdown. She said she was scared she was dangerous and worried she might kill someone.’ At around 5.30am Edgington also told a psychiatric nurse she needed to be sectioned and an hour later she was taken to the Oxleas unit. She appeared calm but at around 7.05am she said: ‘I’m going to call my care coordinator’ and left the building, jurors heard. Edgington then took a bus to Bexleyheath and went into an Asda store to buy a large knife. At 9.29am she walked out of the store onto the Broadway where people were walking past on their way to work and children were heading to school. Kerry Clark was waiting for a bus to Dartford Heath while listening to music when Edgington confronted her, shouting: ‘You f****** bitch! You f****** bitch!’ Miss Clark fell backwards to avoid the knife and Edgington got on top of her on the ground. ‘The manner of her actions was described by one witness as ferocious,’ said Mr Heywood. ‘Her face was set and angry. ‘There was a struggle. Miss Clark was screaming 'What are you doing?' In a desperate attempt to save her own life, Miss Clark grabbed the blade of the knife firmly with her bare right hand as she wrestled with her attacker. Killed: The house in East Sussex where Marion Edgington's body was found in 2005 . ‘Had she not done so she would surely not have survived. After a few moments she somehow managed to loosen the other’s grip, taking the knife from her grasp and by sheer effort managed to free herself from underneath.’ Miss Clark then stood up and shouted: ‘What the f***’s wrong with you, you crazy b****?’ Edgington replied: ‘I’m not the crazy one - you’re the one with the knife in your hand.’ She demanded her knife back but after a short standoff walked away across the road. She then went into The British Meat Market at 195 Broadway and grabbed a 12-inch knife from a block. Mr Heywood said: ‘With it, she went on until she found another lady. She set upon her with the bigger knife, attacking her with such sustained force that her neck was cut completely open.” Manslaughter: Nicola Edgington stabbed her mother Marion, pictured, to death in 2005 . Edgington says her responsibility was diminished because of her mental state. But the prosecution reject the claim, saying she acted deliberately, intending to kill. Mr Heywood said she was treated as an inpatient for schizophrenia with emotionally unstable personality traits. The prosecution now says she suffers from a borderline personality disorder and her mental state is variable. From September 2009, she was living in a supported flat and, by October 2011, she was under the care of the Bracton Centre in Dartford and was reviewed regularly by a consultant psychiatrist, social supervisor and community psychiatric nurse. Mr Heywood told jurors: ‘The reason that the defendant was being treated as an inpatient between 2006 and 2009 is this - on November 4 2005 she returned from a night out with her brother and sister to their mother’s house. ‘Their mother was there alone. Once there she stabbed her mother and killed her, leaving the property and disappearing for three weeks.’ He said the jury will have ‘to consider the whole history in due course when you analyse her responsibility for her acts on this occasion. ‘One factor is that she has been through it all before. She therefore knew what to expect, what might happen should she kill again.” The trial continues. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.
manager Sally Hodkin, 58, was on her way to work when she suffered a fatal cut to her neck from a Edgington, who was being treated in the being monitored by a psychiatrist, nurse and social worker, had attacked another woman, Kerry manslaughter of her mother Marion, who she deteriorated and just hours earlier, she was taken to hospital - but walked out before she could be admitted as a voluntary inpatient. She way to work . Edgington had been taken to the