A psychotic 32-year-old who killed his sister visiting his home on the Isle of Dogs has been detained under a Mental Health order after claiming Satan told him to do it.

East London Advertiser: Neighbourhood of luxury tower blocks on Isle of Dogs where psychotic killer Ashraf strangled his sister. Picture: GoogleNeighbourhood of luxury tower blocks on Isle of Dogs where psychotic killer Ashraf strangled his sister. Picture: Google (Image: Google)

Khalid Ashraf was sentenced at the Old Bailey yesterday (November 13) after denying murder, but admitting to manslaughter.

Neighbours had called police on January 5 when they saw blood on the front door of Ashraf's two-bedroom flat in East Ferry Road in Millwall, next to Crossharbour DLR, where his 35-year-old sister Sarah had come to visit.

But the blood had been cleared up by the time police got there.

Officers found Sarah's body in a bedroom. Blood samples around the flat were forensically confirmed as Sarah's.

Sarah had been concerned for her brother's mental health and came to stay with him, although he had not been diagnosed with any illness.

A post-mortem examination confirmed she had been killed by compression of the neck.

Ashraf was questioned and admitted choking his sister because he was "instructed by Satan and his Buddhist leader".

He was arrested and appeared at Thames Magistrates' Court on January 8 accused of murder.

But he denied the charge when he was sent to the Old Bailey, where he pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility.

Ashraf was found to have paranoid psychosis by medical professionals who confirmed that he was mentally ill at the time.

"The family have been devastated by this tragic event," Det Chief Insp Paul Considine said after the Old Bailey hearing.

"Sarah recognised that her brother's mental health was deteriorating and went to his flat to care for him.

"We will never know what the catalyst was that led to killing his sister.

"But he and his family will have to live with Sarah's loss for the rest of their lives."

Ashraf was sentenced to a Hospital Order under the 1983 Mental Health Act, after the Crown prosecution accepted his admission to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

He has been detained in a mental health institution until he is deemed fit and no longer a risk to the public.