The daughter of a former Felixstowe woman has made an emotional victim impact statement after her mum was killed by her neighbour.

Mandy Houghton, 58, who moved back to Lancashire after spell living in Felixstowe following the break up of her marriage, was killed by her neighbour, Alan Fare, 74, in an unprovoked attack with a hammer.

A jury found Fare, who was unfit to make a plea, guilty of the act of killing Mrs Houghton on June 3 2020 and he was sentenced to be detained under the Mental Health Act.

Ms Hoghton's daughter Donna Woods told the court: "This statement is about my mum.

"On Wednesday June 3 the lives of my family changed forever as she was brutally attacked and killed in her own home.

"I sent my mum a message that morning to tell her the price of something she had bought had gone down, and had a joke about it.

"She sent a laughing emoji back to me and that was the last contact I had with her.

"I tried to contact her later but didn't get a reply. I know now that at that time she was probably dead or dying.

"My mum has two daughters. I am the oldest and Gemma is younger than me. We are a very close family.

"My mum and dad separated and remained on good terms, but when the marriage broke down she moved away to Felixstowe, but in 2015, Gemma had a car accident and she came back up to look after her for a few weeks.

"It was during this time that she realised she missed us all and she decided to move back up to Nelson.

"We were all so happy she was living back locally and there were always members of our family going round to her flat.

"On the day of her death Gemma saw the air ambulance landing and went to see what had happened, not thinking it was anything to do with us.

"Then she saw the police near my mum's house.

"We went to the police station and were told that a woman's body had been found.

"It didn't seem real that it was happening to us, to my mum, who would do anything for anyone.

"We all suffered lack of sleep as well as struggling at work.

"It was hard driving past her house. And the hardest thing I have had to do is explain to my two children that their grandma is dead.

"My eldest son got access to Google and found out what happened to his grandma. He now gets very angry and lashes out, so much so that I have had to seek help from the school.

"My little sister Gemma had a little girl some years ago, but she was diagnosed with a brain tumour and died not long after she was born.

"The death of my mum on top of that has been too much to take.

"The court process has also not been easy, but to see the man who killed my mum sitting there without a care in the world is hard.

"I don't think we can recover from this and I don't think we will be able to fully rebuild our lives.

"We are all extremely grateful that the defendant has been found guilty.

"We do not however feel that we have got true justice as this does not change the fact that Mandy has gone forever and we will never be able to forgive the defendant for destroying all our lives.

"Our world has fallen apart but we know that Mandy would want us to try and pick up the pieces and we hope that she is looking down on us knowing that we have done the best we can for her."

The court heard Fare had harboured bizarre delusions which started him against her, and the evidence suggested she opened the door to him and he came into her house and found the weapon in the house and started about killing her.

Having done that he left the house, locked the door and hid the key. He went into Burnley and flagged down a police officer and directed the police to where she was but by that time it was far too late.

Fare was sentenced by Judge Robert Altham under section 37 of the mental health act with section 41 restrictions, meaning he will be detained in Guild Lodge indefinitely under strict medical supervision.

Judge Altham said: "It is clear from Ms Woods' victim personal statement that the family is a close and loving extended family.

"There was always going to be a very significant affect on the family but Ms Woods statement just reminds us of the effects caused by sudden violent deaths like these.

"It's not just immediate family affected by all this, the shock has reverberated throughout all the generations of this family.

"This family was already struck by the the loss of a child, and were now struck again by the brutal act on the part of Alan Fare.

"We got an impression of Mandy Houghton during the proceedings, and it's the bitter irony in this case, that involved her taking care of the people around her, not just her family, but those who lived around her.

"She was kind and neighbourly, someone who put herself out to help those who lived around her, but the bitter irony is that one of those she helped was the defendant.

"When she noticed the defendant was suffering during the first lockdown she did not only offer him help but tried to get him help.

"Of course, the manner of her death is something the family will never come to terms with. It was a violent and brutal death.

"The evidence in the case was absolutely overwhelming. It's clear that Fare's mental health was deteriorating and had been for some time."