A SCHIZOPHRENIC who tried to murder a prostitute with a claw hammer because he “wanted to become a serial killer” has been granted an indefinite hospital order.

David Parsons told police that he “would have killed” his victim if she had stopped screaming.

The 21-year-old brutally attacked the escort with a hammer, which he had hidden in his waistband, after ordering her to his house in Middlesbrough last June.

Parsons only stopped bludgeoning her after he became scared her screams might alert the neighbours. He fled the house and rang the emergency services.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court, said: “If she had not screamed he would have finished it until she was dead.

“This was a planned attempt to kill.”

Parsons told police that he was "fascinated" with the Yorkshire Ripper and wanted to carry out copycat slayings after hearing voices.

He said the voices started after his father died when he was 14 – initially he found them comforting.

But recently they had been urging him to kill somebody and he thought the only way to stop them was to do what they said, he told police.

He bought the hammer six weeks earlier and planned the attack to take place at his house, which only contained a single mattress on the floor, because he thought it would be easier than killing someone on the street.

He used his mobile phone to find a website and look at photographs of hookers. He chose his victim at around 6pm on June 23.

He then sent a text message to a number listed and after a series of questions and replies, which included him asking for bondage, he booked a woman.

She was dropped off to the house by a friend just after 9pm.

After the attack she was taken to hospital and received care for a two-centimetre head wound.

Parsons described the incident as "an out-of-body experience that made me feel powerful and good".

He told police in an interview: "She is a prostitute. I am not even bothered."

Dr Pratish Thakkar, a psychologist, said that it would be a huge risk to jail Parsons as he could not see what he had done was wrong.

“I would have expected some level of insight or remorse for the incident,” he added.

Robert Mochrie, mitigating, said: “Parsons has all the hallmarks of a very unwell person.

“It is a tragedy for the victim, of course, but at the same time and by the same measures it is tragic that the defendant suffers from this illness.”

Mrs Justice Simler said she was satisfied that Parsons’ disturbing psychological problems would be a risk to others if he was given a prison sentence.

The victim said: “I cannot go out in public anymore.

“If anyone is walking behind me I get scared that they are about to attack me.

“This has ruined my life and I have lost trust in people.”