Sister was killed over Mafia fears

A man deliberately killed his sister in a high-speed car crash because he believed that they were both on a Mafia hit-list, a court was told.

Andrew Lowe (41) invited his victim out for lunch before suddenly driving into a tree at up to 60mph as the pair were heading home.

Miss Lorraine Lowe (44) died from injuries including a broken neck after her brother’s Fiat Punto struck the tree with such force that the trunk was uprooted.

Although they could find no reason for the crash, police at first treated the death as a tragic accident, Lincoln Crown Court was told on Friday.

But Lowe, who survived without serious injury, later confessed he crashed on purpose because he thought he and his sister were marked for death.

He said: “I didn’t want to leave my sister behind. The family were under threat from the Mafia. It was my intention to kill myself and my sister.

“I cared a lot about her, and she would have been left behind.

“Her life was at risk. I wanted her to go with me. I thought it would be better.

“I decided to invite her to a pub lunch and crashed the car on the way home.

“I heard voices. It was my intention that we both should die.”

Lowe originally faced a charge of murder as a result of the crash on Moor Lane, Thurlby, on January 3 last year.

But his guilty plea to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility was accepted by prosecutors.

He also admitted the attempted murder of Patricia Kilner, a fellow patient at King’s Mill Hospital, Sutton-in-Ashfield, on January 25 last year.

The court heard Lowe, a paranoid schizophrenic, of Pelham Street, Newark, was caught by staff as he tried to strangle the 71-year-old.

Ordering him to be detained indefinitely in a psychiatric unit, Judge John Milmo said it was obvious he was suffering from a mental illness.

Mr Michael Fowler, prosecuting, said Lowe admitted to doctors that he caused the crash but claimed to remember little about it when interviewed by police.

He made no comment when questioned about his attempt to strangle Mrs Kilner, which happened while he was being treated at a psychiatric unit.

Mr David Farrell, defending, said: “As he gets better the true implications of what he did when he was ill will sink in.

“He knows he has to live with the fact he killed somebody very dear to him and to whom he bore no malice. He was extremely close to his sister.”

Mr Farrell said Lowe had been receiving psychiatric treatment since 2000 but stopped taking his medication in the month leading up to the killing.

Miss Lowe, who lived on Winchilsea Avenue, Newark, was a former hairdresser.

She trained as a church pastor in Australia.

Miss Lowe was born in East Bridgford and attended Cropwell Bishop Primary School and then Toot Hill School, Bingham.

After qualifying as a hairdresser she worked in Leicester.

She lived in Australia for ten years, working in government offices and in law.

She returned to Newark about 11 years ago after becoming unwell.