Matty Locks, 28, from Poole, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing on 24 June 2019 to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Locks, who appeared at Winchester Crown Court on 10 July 2020, was sentenced to a hospital order. The order states that he cannot be released from hospital without authorisation by the secretary of state.

On 17 December 2018, Dorset Police was called by the ambulance service to reports that a man aged in his 80s had been assaulted at an address in Phyldon Close.

An altercation occurred between Locks and his step-grandfather at around 8pm. Locks struck Mr Taylor over the head with a lamp. Locks then called his support worker and said, “I have just hit my granddad with a lamp.”

He was advised to call for an ambulance, which he did, and the police were called. Locks was arrested and charged in connection with the assault.

Mr Taylor sustained serious head injuries and died in hospital on the evening of 1 January 2019.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Mr Taylor sustained a minimum of three impacts to his head, which resulted in a fractured skull and traumatic injury to the brain.

Locks was further charged with murder and an investigation was carried out by detectives from Dorset Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT).

Detective Inspector Rich Dixey, of MCIT, said: “Our thoughts today are with Mr Taylor’s family who are being supported by family liaison officers. I hope the outcome today will bring some closure for them.”