A mentally ill homeless man who strangled a caring grandmother to death has been detained indefinitely.

Wandsworth Times:

Ms Thomas was found dead at her home in Chilworth Court, Windlesham Grove, Southfields, on December 10, 2013

From March 4: Mentally ill man guilty of strangling Mormon grandmother to death after she homed him to avoid bedroom tax

Felix Gutierrez-Cortez, 34, was found guilty last month of manslaughter by diminished responsibility after the death of 61-year-old Anna Maria Thomas in Southfields in December 2013.

At an earlier hearing at the Old Bailey, the court heard Gutierrez-Cortez, a habitual visitor to Clapham Junction station, had been invited into Ms Thomas’ home in Chilworth Court, Windlesham Grove, in June 2013.

It was intended he would act as a carer, gain shelter and Ms Thomas could avoid the bedroom tax.

The court heard on the evening December 10, 2013, Gutierrez-Cortez called 999 and asked for an ambulance and when paramedics arrived, they found the lifeless body of Ms Thomas on the floor.

The body was said to have been decomposing, covered with a duvet and a pillow placed under her head.

Gutierrez-Cortez, who has paranoid schizophrenia, initially claimed he had found Ms Thomas when he returned home that day and had covered her with the duvet, but later said she regularly became unconscious during meditation.

He also said he had stayed in the lounge for two days while she meditated in the spare bedroom.

Gutierrez-Cortez was arrested on December 10 and sectioned under the Mental Health Act and a post-mortem examination carried out a day later found Ms Thomas had died as a result of strangulation or rupture of the windpipe.

The post-mortem examination also found Ms Thomas had been dead for some days before a call was made to the emergency services.

The court previously heard on the day Ms Thomas is believed to have died, December 8, she had gone to church and been shopping.

Speaking last month at the Old Bailey, prosecutor David Howker QC said: "The fact is, members of the jury, Ms Thomas suffered classic strangulation injuries that required severe force.

"There is no other person in reality that has been suggested as being responsible. Everything points to that being the time of death, him being home and there being no other candidate.

"It won’t take a great deal for a big man like Mr Cortez to subdue by strangulation Ms Thomas."

During the trial, which lasted just two-and-a-half days, the defence did not call anyone to give evidence and Gutierrez-Cortez was found guilty on Wednesday, March 4.

He will be detained indefinitely in a secure unit under the Mental Health Act.