A WOKING man has been sentenced to 19 years imprisonment after being found guilty of murdering his mother.

Philip Tarver, 47, stabbed his mother Angela to death with an ornamental sword and cut off her head with a kitchen knife at their home in Julian Close in Goldsworth Park on Thursday, 19 December.

Before police arrived at the scene, Tarver placed his mother’s head in the freezer. He also severed her left ring finger and put it inside a kettle.

Following a four week-long trial at the Old Bailey, Tarver was found guilty of murder and making threats to kill.

On Thursday 8 October he was sentenced to 19 years for Angela Tarver’s murder and 18 months for threatening to kill his 83-year-old father, Colin Tarver. Both sentences will be served concurrently.

Tarver had lived with his parents for most of his life and had relied on them for financial support. He had taken cocaine and drunk beer and vodka before he attacked his mother.

“A forensic post-mortem examination showed that 86-year-old Angela died from a single stab wound,” said a Surrey Police spokesman. “Her family are being supported by specially trained officers.”