Totally kind, unfailingly selfless and universally loved. Alexis Karran was the epitome of joy.
She was a radiographer at Tameside Hospital with a love for all things nature, and an even deeper love for her life-partner, Daniel Mitchell. Sadly this love, and her unwavering devotion to helping him fight his demons, would inevitably lead to her brutal death.
Yesterday, Mitchell was handed a hospital order with restrictions after pleading guilty earlier this year to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He was found to be suffering from severe catatonic depression, never seen before by a senior psychiatrist. At the time he acted upon an ‘irresistible impulse’ to attack Alexis with a hammer, causing 20 unsurvivable injuries to her head.
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In a sentencing hearing at Manchester Crown Court, members of both Alexis’ family and Mitchell’s family looked on as prosecutor Tania Griffiths KC spoke of the woman who was killed at the hands of the man who loved her most.
“Alexis Karran loved music. She loved walking and nature and bird watching. She made people happy and is described by her family and friends as totally selfless and one of the kindest people they know,” she said.
Nothing was too much trouble for her, and she always put others before herself, various statements read. Her best friend said she now carries the ‘heavy burden of grief’.
“Her life was taken by someone she cared for and who was supposed to love and protect her,” the prosecutor summarised. “I’m angry at her for not leaving him.”
“I can’t bear the thought of her never seeing trees, the seasons, stroking a cat or drinking a coffee again.”
She spoke of her love for her younger brother, stating that she was desperate to attend his graduation from university but felt she couldn’t for fear that Mitchell would take his own life. Fortunately she was able to go when his sister Louise stepped in.
“She loved the defendant and tried very hard to help him. Her friends describe that he did seem to care and genuinely appreciate her efforts,” Mr Griffiths said. “Whilst not a burden for mental illness, it did take its toll on her too. When life became difficult she bore the brunt of his mental health difficulties.”
Alexis was said to encourage him and support him and had an ‘unfailing kindness and support’ to help ‘put his demons at rest. Whilst described to be a private person, she once became upset at work and confided in her colleagues about how difficult life was for her.
She felt she couldn’t leave to go to work out of fear he would take his own life. One friend described that she had lost so much weight over the last few months of her life that clothes were ‘hanging off her’, that she seemed tired as if her ‘sparkle was leaving her’.
“I can understand why people wouldn’t be able to forgive him, but that was the kind of person she was though I can’t speak for the death. She loved life, her family, her friends, her colleagues and her patients - did she love the killer? She loved all of that combined.”
Mitchell and Alexis had been in a long standing relationship for 23 years, meeting through his sister who was good friends with Alexis.
He was a successful illustrator, working for the Financial Times and Readers Digest, with various teaching jobs at Tameside college. Alexis was employed by the NHS as a radiographer at Tameside Hospital.
Their relationship was strong, with no suggestion of violence or abuse. In messages read to the court, it was clear to see that they clearly loved and supported one another.
Whilst in the middle of a nervous breakdown, Alexis said: “His poor brain is just broken with stress and despair.” She checked in with him, asking: “You ok, darling?” and he replied that he was and said: “I love you so much.”
They frequently professed their mutual love for each other, and Alexis told him how proud she was that he was motivating himself to address his problems, the court heard.
She was also messaging his sister, confessing that she was struggling to cope with his state of mind, and was worried about leaving him to go to the shops.
On the morning of her death, November 6 last year, she sent a message to his sister: “Just to let you know… he chopped the vegetables with me last night in a massive pan, and helped with the nut roast and that seemed to occupy him and calmed him down. Love you x.”
Their intended plans for Sunday dinner with friends that day would sadly never took place. After putting up some pictures around their new home on Winchester Road in Dukinfield, Mitchell grabbed a claw hammer and attacked Alexis.
In a heart wrenching statement read to the court by a detective, Leo Karran, the younger brother of Alexis said: “Due to the age gap between Alexis and I, I saw her as much older, wiser and more mature than myself. She was like another distant mother to me.
“I looked up to Lex all my life. I saw her as the one adult who respected me and had my back, and I could always speak to her and Dan if I needed to as well.”
He said they had planned to meet up more once he had finished university, and that he was looking forward to getting to know her, both as adults. Leo said he went to see Alexis and Mitchell a week before she was killed, and he was ‘shocked’ at the difference in Mitchell.
“I just feel like things were taken away from me. Things remain unsaid and I never got the chance to say these things to her,” he continued.
“Just two days before I had been offered a job in the NHS and I wanted to tell her this. She was a sage and I looked up to her.
“Many things changed last year since Dan killed Lex. When Lex died I was already suffering from a depressive episode. This exacerbated my mental health. It’s taken me six months to get out of the fog.”
He said he frequently gets emotional at the memory of Alexis and the details of her ‘awful’ death. “Before all this I was so close to her and felt close to Dan too,” he said.
“To me they seemed to have the ideal relationship, and their love for each other was what I aspired to have. If she was here she would have said: “I’m so sorry this happened to you, Dan, that things got so bad for you.”
“I hope one day I get the chance to speak to him but I can’t just yet. He is one connection to Lex. It's difficult to think of life in the future without my big sister being in it.”
Mitchell, of Winchester Road, was sentenced to a section 37 hospital order with a section 41 order under the Mental Health Act.
Senior Investigating Officer Duncan Thorpe, of GMP’s Major Incident Support Unit, said: "My heartfelt condolences go out to Alexis' family and her loved ones. No family, parent, sibling, or friend should ever have to experience the devastating pain of losing a loved one in such an horrific attack.
"Throughout this challenging journey, our dedicated officers have provided support to Alexis' family. Our collective thoughts are with them as they continue to grapple with this profound grief.”
