Mental health workers, monitoring a paranoid schizophrenic, decided they had no need to take immediate action – only five hours before he killed his nine-year-old brother in a brutal and sustained stabbing.

Jack Taylor suffered very severe “deep, penetrating” wounds, including the severing of his spinal cord, when his elder brother Daniel attacked him with serrated kitchen knives.

Bradford Crown Court was told yesterday that the brothers loved each other, but Daniel Taylor, now 21, had developed paranoid schizophrenia and changed beyond the recognition of friends who had known him for years.

He was reluctant to take medication prescribed for him and his condition had worsened before the fatal attack in February last year.

Taylor had been removing photographs of himself from picture frames and burning them, taking light bulbs from their fittings so he would be in darkness, and told psychiatrists he had been hearing voices which became threatening towards him.

He had also been abusing skunk cannabis, but the court heard that that had not played a part in the killing.

Prosecutor Simon Bourne-Arton QC, told the court Taylor had been referred to Lynfield Mount mental health hospital in Bradford, in May 2009. He was discharged the following August, with back-up support from the Elms mental health resource centre, which was responsible for monitoring his progress and making home visits to him.

Mr Bourne-Arton said the mental health team noted, in October and December, that Taylor was not taking his medication. On November 25, the care co-ordinator, Richard Metcalfe saw him and he appeared relaxed and calm.

But two or three days before the offence, the defendant’s behaviour worsened and the family was concerned about his health.

At 7.25pm, on February 17, Mrs Taylor sent a text message to her father, asking him to ring Daniel’s care worker. He left a message for them, but Mr Metcalfe was on holiday, and the team did not pick up the message until the afternoon of February 18. Two team workers responded to the message and spoke to Mrs Taylor and the defendant at the family home, in Richardson Avenue, Wibsey, Bradford.

Mr Bourne-Arton said: “They were there for 20 minutes. When they left, they were confident there was no immediate problem or crisis for them to deal with.”

The prosecutor said that five hours later Taylor went into the kitchen, picked up a knife with a serrated near-foot-long blade and walked to the home of his sister, Rachel, a few yards away.

“He had the knife in one hand and a piece of wood in the other and was looking for his brother Jack.

“Rachel tried, very bravely, and succeeded in taking the knife off him. In the course of that she was injured. The defendant went into her kitchen, picked up her kitchen knives and pursued Jack.

“He caught up with Jack and stabbed him repeatedly, and clearly with considerable force. While he was doing that, he said nothing.”

Rachel picked up her young daughter and ran to her mother’s house. Her father was there and found Jack’s body in the ginnel. The defendant stayed at the scene and was arrested.

The court heard one broken knife was found in the living room and a second bloodied large chef’s knife, with a 13-inch-long serrated cutting edge, was discovered outside.

Blond-haired Daniel Taylor was initially held in custody at Doncaster Prison, where he behaved strangely, dancing around and laughing bizarrely, and still hearing voices.

In July he was moved to Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire.

Taylor had admitted, at a hearing in November, the manslaughter of his brother, and unlawful wounding of his sister.

Yesterday, Judge James Goss QC, describing it as a tragic case, ordered him to be detained without time limit at Rampton under the Mental Health Act.

The judge said it had been a sustained and brutal attack.

He said Taylor had been suffering from a mental disorder and it was appropriate for him to be detained in an hospital.

He said it was necessary, for the protection of the public from serious harm, for the defendant to be subjected to restrictions under section 41 of the Mental Health Act.

He told Taylor he would remain under treatment in hospital until, and unless, a Mental Health Tribunal was satisfied his detention was no longer appropriate or required.

The judge praised the patience and dignity of the family.

Robert Smith QC, mitigating, said it was a tragedy for Daniel Taylor and his family, and the matters would never leave their memories.

The senior investigating police officer, Detective Superintendent Sukhbir Singh, said after the case that Daniel Taylor had made no comment about why he had killed his brother.

He said it had caused the close-knit family untold distress.

The Bradford Safeguarding Children’s Board is now holding a Serious Case Review into the matter. A report will be made public at a future date.

Professor Nick Frost, independent board chairman, said: “We can confirm that a serious case review has been undertaken and the executive summary and action plan will be published when all related court and coroners processes have been concluded.”