A teenage girl said “tell mum I love her” as she was killed by her older brother, a court has heard.
Matthew Selby has been sent to jail for five years after killing his 15-year-old sister, Amanda Selby, at a caravan park in North Wales in summer 2021.
A court heard how the autistic 20-year-old lunged at his sister and lay on top of her until she stopped breathing after an argument.
Their father tried to get in between his children and pleaded with Selby to get off his sister, who was wedged between two beds in a caravan.
“His son was too strong, his rage too high, and his daughter had nowhere to move,” the prosector said.
The court heard Amanda said as she lay underneath her brother: “Tell Mum I love her.”
Selby, from Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester, was sentenced by Mold Crown Court on Friday.
The 20-year-old had pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility at an earlier hearing.
He was given an extended sentence of 10 years on Friday which was made up of a five-year custodial term and five years on extended licence.
Judge Rhys Rowlands said the extended licence is considered necessary to protect members of the public from the risks posed by Selby.
“The family has been shattered by what happened that day in July last year,” he said as he passed the sentence.
The court heard that the siblings had been on holiday with their father Anthony when they returned to their caravan after a trip to Rhyl and began arguing.
Jamie Baxter, prosecuting, said Selby lunged at his sister after she hit him with a plug, causing a “trivial” injury to his bottom lip.
The court heard that she fell to the floor between two beds in the confined room and Selby then got on top of her. Mr Baxter said the father tried to climb over one of the beds to reach his children but was unable to get between them.
The prosecutor said the father made an “emotional” and “upsetting” call to 999. Police arrived and arrested Selby, the court heard.
A post-mortem showed Amanda’s cause of death was asphyxiation.
The prosecutor said Selby, who appeared via video-link from HMP Berwyn, has autism spectrum disorder with intermittent explosive disorder, which causes aggressive outbursts, as well as a depressive disorder.
Gordon Cole KC, defending, said attempts have been made to see whether the court could impose a hospital order on the defendant.
He said: “In short, it can’t, and we accept it must be a custodial sentence.”
