CRAZED SON STABS PARENTS TO DEATH; Killer tried to take his own life.

Byline: NORMAN SILVESTER

A SCOTS expat and her Spanish husband have been stabbed to death by their mentally-ill son.

Sheila Peterkin, 77, of Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, and her husband Jorge Perez, 83, were found slaughtered at their home in Madrid. Police arrived to find their schizophrenic son Andres, 47, sitting on a sofa covered in blood after attempting to kill himself. He was taken to the city's La Paz hospital.

Yesterday his younger brother Miguel, 46, accused the Spanish authorities of failing Andres by closing down psychiatric institutions.

He said: "Many of the mentally ill have been put on to the streets without the adequate care and treatment that could be offered by health professionals.

"Schizophrenia has caused my darling brother to commit an act that has filled his conscience with pain, remorse and guilt."

Andres, who has a history of drug abuse, was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 16.

A police spokesman said: "Andres Perez acknowledges that he stabbed his parents last Saturday and then tried unsuccessfully to kill himself.

"He is under arrest and receiving psychiatric treatment."

Sheila moved to Spain in the 1950s and taught English at a British school in Madrid.

Her husband Jorge was former professor of philosophy at the prestigious Salamanca University.

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CAPTION(S):

Treatment: La Paz hospital Hang man: RSPCA officer in action