A bagel tycoon’s mentally ill son has admitted double manslaughter after knifing his mother 13 times in the face before stabbing his sister to death at their £2.5million home in London.
Joshua Cohen, 29, was sent to Broadmoor hospital in 2018 after being found mentally unfit to enter pleas to the murders of mother-of-five Louise Cohen, 64, and Hannah Cohen, 33.
After his mental health improved, Cohen, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was brought back to the Old Bailey.
Joshua Cohen (left) has admitted the manslaughter of Hannah Cohen (right) as well as his mother and remains in Broadmoor
Louise Cohen, 64, (pictured) suffered 13 stab wounds to the head in the horrific attack from her paranoid schizophrenic son
Spikey-haired Cohen entered guilty pleas to the manslaughter of the women by diminished responsibility, but denied their murders.
Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse QC said the Crown accepted the pleas following psychiatric reports.
Judge Hilliard previously said Cohen would remain at Broadmoor under an indefinite hospital order.
The court heard that Cohen had worked at the renowned family-owned Beigel Bake bakery in Brick Lane, in the East End.
Pictured: The Golders Green home in north London, where Joshua Cohen killed his mother and sister before being declared unfit to plea to murder charges
But his brother Nathan, 31, said he had ‘issues’ with customers and other staff so stopped working with him there.
He also moved to an annex at the bottom of the garden, only being allowed back in to the main house if another brother was present.
The other inhabitants of the three-storey property were Nathan and Hannah Cohen and their mother Louise, whose husband Amos died in August 2016. The sequence of events on August 11 last year were captured on CCTV at the house.
At about 8pm, Cohen tapped on the window of his mother’s downstairs bedroom. She let him in while his sister was vacuuming in the sitting room, the court heard.
Pictured: The shop in Brick Lane, East London, which Joshua Cohen worked at until he had issues with some of the customers
Cohen went into the kitchen and was followed by the two women, who were then attacked in the basement laundry room.
Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse QC told jurors: ‘Hannah and Louise Cohen were never seen again.
‘In the next few minutes both of them were stabbed to death in the laundry room in the basement.’
Cohen used two large kitchen knives, an iron or meat tenderiser to attack the two women.
Mrs Cohen suffered 13 stab wounds to her head, face and body and was bludgeoned over the head.
She also suffered cuts to her hands as she desperately tried to fend off her attacker.
Her daughter Hannah would have died in seconds after Cohen stabbed her in the neck, severing the carotid artery.
Cohen emerged minutes later with blood on his head and legs, carrying bloodstained clothes upstairs, jurors heard.
Police are pictured investigating the Golders Green property in north London after the deaths
He changed into a red hooded top and grey tracksuit bottoms before leaving the house, the court was told.
He was arrested in nearby Golders Hill Park the following day and charged with two counts of murder.
Giving evidence, Nathan Cohen tearfully described how he found his mother’s and sister’s bodies after he came home from a shift at the bagel bakery.
Mr Cohen said he was keen to catch the second half of an Arsenal match and did not see his mother, who slept downstairs because of a knee injury.
He said: ‘As you go upstairs, you can see into the kitchen and I noticed there was a lot of mess on the floor. There was red footprints to the end of the kitchen so I thought that was a bit odd.
‘Then I came downstairs and went into the kitchen and I noticed there was lots of footprints. Initially I didn’t realise. I came to realise it was blood. It came to the end of the kitchen, leading back to the basement.’
Mr Cohen wept as he told jurors: ‘I saw my mum and sister lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
‘First I was in shock and went over to my mum. I was tapping her, going “Mum, Mum”.
‘I turned to my sister. She was very pale. I straightaway called 999. I said “You’ve got to come”. They said an ambulance was coming.
Two large blood-stained kitchen knives were later recovered from the kitchen bin and basement.
The blade on one was chipped in the attack on Mrs Cohen, leaving the tip embedded in her head.