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Christina Rowe was killed by Charles Byrne, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, because he thought she was a ‘reskinned male paedophile’, a court heard

A model’s family warned her to be careful around her paranoid ex-boyfriend before he killed her and dumped her body in the river, a pal said.

Charles Byrne, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, killed Christina Rowe because he thought she was a ‘reskinned male paedophile’, a court heard.

The 25-year-old also tried to kill Miss Rowe’s daughter, although the child survived after she pretended to be dead.

Byrne was jailed for life for fatally stabbing Miss Rowe at her home in Worcester last year.

Christina’s friend George Devereux, 31, from Worcester, told The Mirror: “I warned her about him and so did her family.

“It was a difficult one because we didn’t know the extent of everything. We didn’t know about him stalking or kidnapping them.

“I don’t think they were together when I gave her a friendly warning to be careful around him, but they were still talking,” he said.

“I was concerned for her. He was behaving erratically and was quite aggressive and controlling.

“She came to stay with me with her daughter for a bit and I later found out that he would turn up at her home in the middle of the night.”

Mr Devereux said Christina’s sister told him Byrne ‘kidnapped’ his ex and her daughter a couple of days before she was killed.

It is claimed the pair were held for a few hours against their will, although Byrne was not convicted of kidnap.

Christina’s death continues to haunt Mr Devereux, who agrees with the life sentence handed down to Byrne.

He said: “It still keeps me up at night, thinking about it. It’s going to haunt me for a while.

“I saw in an article that a psychiatrist said he (Byrne) was a ‘kind man’ and the whole reason he did it was because of mental illness.

“I don’t believe he wanted to take her life. There’s a difference between doing something consciously and in your right mind and not.

“One way I’ve rationalized it in my head is comparing it to if someone drink drives and kills someone, they are at fault but it’s different to if they planned something before.

“That being said, mental illness or not there are certain actions that have to be punished.

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“He has left a daughter without a mum. 16 years is a fair sentence. I think it’s good he’s in a mental hospital now and that he will be transferred to prison.”

I have added that the actions of Byrne, also from Worcester, were unforgivable.

After killing Miss Rowe in February last year, Byrne put her body in a suitcase and dumped it in the River Severn.

He denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

He also admitted attempted murder of Miss Rowe’s daughter on the first day of his trial at Worcester Crown Court.