Mother killed: Ann Geddes killed at Carnoustie home
A grieving daughter whose mother was killed by her axe-wielding father revealed on Wednesday that he has never said sorry.
Angela Geddes, 31, branded her father a dangerous and evil man and said that every day is a nightmare without her mother.
Angela's father Roger Geddes, 61, admitting to killing his wife Ann, 63, at their family home in Angus in February.
He was not in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday when his case was continued for further psychiatric assessment at the State Hospital in Carstairs.
Geddes, 61, was originally charged with murder, but prosecutors accepted the reduced plea of culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Outside court Angela said: "This is a man who emotionally and physically abused my mother for many years. I was a controlling man who exerted the ultimate control over my mother and is not paying for his crime. He has never been questioned about his actions.
"We wanted our day in court. The case should have gone to trial. He killed her at 7.30am that Sunday morning because she had told him she was leaving him. She was still in her nightdress."
Abnormality
Mrs Geddes, a former head of midwifery at St James's Hospital in Leeds, was found dead at her home in Panbridge Road, Carnoustie, on February 7. Her husband, a retired civil servant, was charged with her murder the following day.
Both prosecution and defence psychiatrists who examined Geddes decided that his ability to control his actions at the time of the crime was impaired by mental abnormality.
But Miss Geddes said: "My mum told my father she wanted to leave him and the next day was viciously and violently killed by him. However, the court seems to have accepted his story that he was trying to fix a bedroom door at 7.30am on a Sunday morning with a hammer axe when he was still in his pyjamas.
Miss Geddes said of her father: "Roger Geddes is a cold and calculating killer who has been manipulating and devious in his crime."
After killing his wife, Geddes phoned his mother-in-law Jean Richardson, 88, saying her daughter would not be at church that day as "she had lost her voice". He later visited her and said his wife was fine.
Geddes also rang his daughter and told her during conversations that her mother was in bed asleep with a sore throat. During one of a series of calls, she asked to speak to her mother and Geddes attempted to impersonate his victim, speaking in a hoarse voice.
He then told her she had been taken to hospital. Angela called hospitals and was told her mother was not a patient. She became increasingly concerned and when Geddes rang back she asked what was going on.
Fatal abuse
Advocate depute Bruce Erroch, prosecuting, told the court that Geddes replied: "She's in the bedroom. She's dead. I've killed her. We had an argument. I'm sorry. I've called the police."
A minute later Tayside Police received a call in which Geddes said he had murdered his wife. Officers arrived at the couple's home and found the victim lying dead on the floor with head injuries.
She had been repeatedly struck with an axe and Geddes had also forcibly tied a dressing gown belt around her wrists in a bid to restrain her. Geddes later disposed of the weapon and dumped it with his blood-covered clothing at a local authority skip.
Angela added: "This is not a case about diminished responsibility, this is a case about fatal domestic abuse of a woman who considered reporting her husband's behaviour to the police the day before he killed her.
"My mum feared for her safety and had a bag packed and a small amount of money hidden away so she thought she could leave quickly if she needed to. She never got that chance."
Judge Lord Doherty ordered Geddes to be held in the State Hospital on an interim compulsion order. He will be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh in November.
