A ‘Jekyll and Hyde-like’ son tucked his mum up in bed after strangling her in their Bolton home before calmly handing himself in to the police.
Paul Stones, aged 37, from Bolton was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Judge Michael Henshell described the killing as ‘utterly unnatural’.
Stones walked into a police station in June last year, hours after he killed his mother, Marian, aged 58, in the bedroom of the home they shared in Eagley, Bolton.
And just days before the killing in June last year he looked up the word ‘garrotte’ – a method of killing – on Wikipedia.
He was jailed for life following a trial at Manchester Crown Court and will serve at least 17 years before he is considered for parole.
Judge Henshell said: “This was an appalling event and because it involves a son killing his mother it can also be described as utterly unnatural.
“I am sure that you are now remorseful and that the tears you shed in court were genuine. You will have to live with the fact you killed your mother for the rest of your life.
“Death by strangulation is an appalling act to contemplate. The force needed is not inconsiderable and she was clearly beaten about the face.
“You clearly carried out a determined and sustained attack and it is difficult to contemplate how you could not have intended to kill her.”
Stones, who has a history of domestic violence and depression, had told the jury he could not remember what triggered the attack but recalled snapshots of the incident.
He remembered kneeling on his mother’s upper arms with his hands around neck and then attempting to revive her.
Stones said he tucked her up in bed, said sorry and told his mother he loved her.
The former hotel worker has a history of domestic violence against former partners and the relationship with his mum was described as volatile.
He had attacked her previously when she threatened to throw him out of the house they shared after his previous relationship with his partner had ended.
Their arguments had been fuelled by alcohol and Stones was taking tablets for depression.
Stones claimed he wasn’t responsible for his actions and killed his mother while under the influence of a cocktail of alcohol and the antidepressant sertraline he had overdosed on the day before his mother’s death.
But a jury of eight men and four women rejected the claims that the erratic drug dosage was a factor in the killing.
Stones had also attacked his former wife, Emma Hindsley in 2005, and his then partner, Claire Nichols, who he has a child with aged five on November 8 2008.
Referring to the women Stones’ life, Judge Henshell said: “They all shared a house with you at some time and were terrified of you when you were drinking.”
Ms Stones died between 10pm on Saturday, June 9, and 2.15pm on Sunday, June 10.
He said he had considered hanging himself in the hours after the killing but eventually decided to hand himself in to the police after looking up on his computer details of the sentence for murder, the National Lottery site and BBC sport.
Stones walked into Scholey Street Police Station in Bolton and told officers he had strangled his mother.
He drew them a map and gave them a key to the house where officers found Ms Stones dead in bed, lying on her back.
Police seized a laptop from Stones’ room and discovered he had searched garrotte, a method of killing, on Wikipedia on June 6, days before the murder.
Stones told the jury he had looked up the word before making a comment on a picture someone had sent him to make sure the spelling was correct.
He made a series of phone calls but didn’t ring the emergency services. He had closed down his Facebook account before leaving for the police station.
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