A WOMAN who stabbed her mother to death is to spend an unspecified number of years in a secure hospital after admitting manslaughter.

Ecila Henderson, 39, stabbed 69-year-old retired teacher Rosemary Elaine Armstrong from Redlynch in Queensland Road, Bournemouth in August last year.

Henderson was originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at Winchester Crown Court on July 8.

She was given a hospital order by Judge Justice David Foskett.

Detectives from Dorset Police described the stabbing as a “tragic accident”.

Mrs Armstrong, who was a mother of three, was a regular churchgoer and history society member in Redlynch.

She was a PE teacher at Fordingbridge Junior School for 12 years before she retired in July 2001.

One of her daughters died at the age of five and her other daughter, Fiona Henderson, lives abroad.

Ms Henderson described her mother, who was known as Elaine, as a beautiful, elegant, courageous and compassionate woman with a devilish sense of humour, who lived for her children and for other people.