A MENTALLY ill man from Barnston who stabbed his lodger to death in a frenzied attack has been made the subject of an indefinite hospital order.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Rupert Gordon Coltart began suffering from mental health problems after taking drugs at university and on the day of the killing his worried mother had twice taken him to hospital for help.

But each time Coltart, known as Gordon, wandered off before being seen and just hours later attacked his caring and supportive lodger, Andrew Anderson, as he lay on the settee.

He stabbed him 39 times mainly to the face and head with a kitchen knife with a 20 centimetre blade. After dropping the weapon in the hall he then walked off down the road soaked in blood and horrified witnesses called the police.

They found Coltart, who had a deep cut to his left hand. He was rambling, said he had repeatedly stabbed Mr Anderson and told them where he lived.

The first officer at the home they were sharing in Storeton Road described the scene as "the most horrific he had seen", said Ian Davies, prosecuting.

Coltart had been accused of murdering 37-year-old Mr Anderson on April 23 this year, which he denied, but his guilty plea to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility was accepted by the prosecution.

The court heard that 35-year-old unemployed Coltart, who was privately educated and obtained a sports science degree at Loughborough University, had been suffering from manic depression for a number of years and had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act on two previous occasions.

Mr Davies said that Coltart's mother, Gill, made a statement about her son's mental health and said that he had reduced his medication in the previous few weeks.

On that fateful day he had arrived at her home at 5am and was talking about Satan and hell. She took him to Arrowe Park Hospital later that morning but he left without being seen.

She later found him and they returned to hospital, but he again he walked away.

Coltart had first been seen by a psychiatrist in 1993 and was later diagnosed as suffering from bi-polar affective disorder and depression, said Mr Davies.

Coltart told police that using drugs at university had adversely affected him. On April 23 he went to the house and heard voices telling him to kill Mr Anderson and said he "acted like a robot".

He described the look of shock on the victim's face as he began stabbing his head and body.

David Steer, QC, defending, said that Coltart, whose only previous conviction is for drink driving, had written a letter of apology. While on remand at the Scott Clinic at Rainhill Hospital his condition has improved and he felt a "huge, huge amount of remorse".

Coltart said that Mr Anderson, who worked for a local shipping company, was organised and tidy and used to look after him and he had been looking forward to seeing him that night.

Coltart comes from a respectable family and believes his problems began after using illicit drugs at university, said Mr Steer. He had latterly being binge drinking and had persuaded his GP to reduce his medication.

His condition deteriorated but he did not realise this. On the day of the killing he had been talking about Satan and hell and thought he was Jesus and a healer.

Ordering Coltart's indefinite detention at the Scott Clinic Judge Henry Globe, QC, the Recorder of Liverpool, said that it was a "tragic and sad case". He was suffering from a schizo-affective disorder which was responsible for his abnormality of mind.

He said that on the day of the stabbing the victim has prophetically spoken of his concern over Coltart's deteriorating mental health After the hearing the victim's younger sister, Heidi Anderson, she was involved in a NHS review of the case but felt that Coltart's family could have done more to help him.

She said that her brother, who received a posthumous degree in business studies from Wirral's Metropolitan College in July, had been "one of the kindest people in the world".

"There is only one victim in this and it is Andrew," said Heidi. She said their elderly parents were too distressed to attend the court hearing.