Karen Wilshaw, 63, attacked her mum Joyce Wilshaw with a hammer on December 31, 2023
stokesentinel Administrator
18:00, 29 Oct 2025Updated 05:33, 30 Oct 2025
Joyce Wilshaw, left, and Karen Wilshaw, right
Troubled Karen Wilshaw killed her 91-year-old mum by repeatedly striking her to the head with a hammer before throwing herself out of the upstairs window. But the initial suicide attempt did not work and the 63-year-old picked herself up, walked back into the Cheadle. house, went upstairs and jumped for a second time.
Her husband, Ralph Harrison, returned from fishing at JCB fishing club at Rocester to find her on the patio with serious injuries. He was heard to say, ‘No Karen, no’.
Paramedics and doctors arrived and both women were pronounced dead that afternoon. Now an inquest into their deaths has been heard at Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordhire’s Coroner’s Court in Stoke with Area Coroner Emma Serrano concluding Joyce’s death was an unlawful killing and Karen’s death was suicide.
The inquest heard Karen and Ralph lived in the same house as her mum, Joyce, in Park Lane. They lived upstairs and the pensioner lived downstairs.
Detective Sergeant Andrew Shorthouse, of Staffordshire Police’s major investigation team, said Ralph called the police at 2.59pm on December 31, 2023 and reported he had found his mother-in-law inside the address in Park Lane and his wife outside on the rear patio.
DS Shorthouse said: “Police attended and found Joyce in the living room with extensive injuries to her head. Karen was still alive on the patio. First aid was being delivered by Ralph and a neighbour.
Karen Wilshaw, aged 63, took her own life after killing her 91-year-old mum Joyce.
“Paramedics arrived at 3.17pm. At 3.43pm a paramedic pronounced Joyce dead and at 3.50pm a doctor pronounced Karen’s life extinct.”
A murder investigation was commenced by the police. Ralph was initially arrested but was released within a few days.
DS Shorthouse said: “Joyce was discovered in an armchair in the living room slumped back. She had apparent severe head trauma. Karen was discovered on the rear patio. There was an open dormer window directly above her location.”
The investigation found Ralph had been fishing in Rocester. He had left the property at 6.30am and returned at 2.50pm. A carer attended to Joyce at 9.12am and left at 9.33am. At 9.48am the dormer window was opened and bangs and a thud could be heard on CCTV footage.
At 9.56am there was more movement with the dormer window and at 9.57am there were sounds of knocking and banging very similar to those heard at 9.48am.
A hammer was recovered which contained Joyce’s DNA. DS Shorthouse said: “After the carer left the property Joyce Wilshaw was fatally injured while seated in her reclining chair in the downstairs living room. Following on from that Karen Wilshaw has gone upstairs and has intentionally thrown herself or fallen out of the dormer window onto the patio beneath. She survived that initial fall and has then returned back into the address, now injured, gone back up the stairs, back up to the same window and has again intentionally fallen from that window a second time, this time being incapacitated on the ground where she remained until Ralph returned home.”
The hearing heard an Alzheimer’s and dementia diagnosis was due to be delivered in a face-to-face interview with Joyce on January 9, 2024. DS Shorthouse said their enquiries showed Karen had expressed some concerns and worries about payments. He said: “She was clearly quite concerned her mother’s condition was diminishing quite rapidly. She was concerned how she had been managing the financial management of that care.
Joyce Wilshaw, 91, was killed by her daughter at their Cheadle home on December 31, 2023.
“Joyce was well cared for by both Karen and Ralph. Karen could sometimes be described as making mountains out of molehills and got quite het up about things that maybe she did not need to.
“There was no forensic evidence, no CCTV or eye witness evidence to suggest there was any third party involvement whatsoever.”
The inquest heard from medical professionals. Both women were patients at the Allen Street Surgery in Cheadle. Dr Anand Gurlapati said Karen suffered from anxiety and depression and was on medication between February 2021 and February 2023. Her last appointment was on August 7, 2023 for pain in her finger. He said Karen was the main carer for her mum. He added: “She had no suicidal ideations or hallucinations.”
Dr Gurlapati said Joyce did not raise any concerns about Karen. He said Karen reported Joyce’s behaviour being confused and muddled in August 2023 when she returned from a three-day break.
Dr Rebecca Chubb, a locum consultant psychiatrist, said Joyce was referred to a memory class following concerns raised by Karen in August 2023 about her mum’s confusion and memory loss. She said Joyce attended a full holistic assessment in November 2023. Her mood was happy. Dr Chubb said: “There were no significant concerns. The plan was to meet with Joyce and her family on January 9, 2024 to deliver the Alzheimer’s dementia diagnosis and discuss any ongoing treatment and support.”
Jackie Ellerby, adult social carer with the Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, said Karen was asked on December 20, 2023 if she would like a carers assessment ‘in her own right’ and she ‘seemed quite happy with that’.
Police and forensics outside a house in Park Lane, Cheadle,, on New Year’s Eve, 2023.
She said there were ‘absolutely no concerns’ for the way Joyce was looked after and ‘it was commented how well she was cared for’. She said there were no concerns for the way Karen was coping. She added: “There were no red flags at all. The only concern she expressed was the concern about finances and the extra charges. We always encouraged Karen to ring in if she did need us, which she never did, apart from when she went on holiday and needed some extra cover.”
Sally Sandiford, head of operations of adult social care for the Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust, said there can be friction between carers and the cared for.
She said: “Since this incident there have been rolling forums. I do not think there is anything we could have done differently. It is absolutely essential that the role of carer is recognised.”
Pathologist Dr Charlotte Randall, who carried out post mortem examinations on the two bodies, gave Karen’s cause of death as multiple traumatic injuries and Joyce’s death was caused by 1a, blunt force trauma to the head.
Miss Serrano said she was satisfied Joyce died as a result of an unlawful killing. She said: “She died as a result of blunt force trauma inflicted by a hammer on her head, most likely on more than one occasion, by her daughter Karen Wilshaw.
Miss Serrano added: “It is clear after she delivered the blows to her mother she took herself up to the upstairs room where the dormer window was and jumped out the window. She did this on a second occasion which caused multiple traumatic injuries.
“She was struggling with the worry of her mum’s health deteriorating and was also concerned about how to pay the extra costs that she needed. There is no suggestion in her medical notes that she was feeling like she was about to kill herself or her mother. But there was clearly a concern that she was worried about aspects of care in relation to her mother. On December 31, 2023 she inflicted the injuries on her mother and then went upstairs and jumped out the window on two occasions. She died as a result of suicide.”