Woman’s ‘good morning, I simply killed my mom’ confession to cops on Xmas Day
Stefania Glowka, 64, is on trial accused of murdering her 86-year-old mother on Christmas Day, she then tried to take her own life but failed before making a chilling confession to cops
This was the chilling moment a woman “calmly” told police “I just killed my mother” after failing to take her own life in a Christmas Day tragedy. Stefania Glowka, 64, has gone on trial accused of murdering her 86-year-old mother Tamara Glowka, who she strangled with a belt in what prosecutors described as a “very deliberate act of violence.”
The court heard the defendant had been sole carer for her mother for 17 years and “could no longer cope.” Prosecutors said the plan had ultimately been for the defendant to take her own life after killing her mother by stabbing herself in the stomach and neck.
But her attempts to end her own life failed and she was later arrested for murder while receiving treatment in an ambulance. Glowka has admitted the killing and pleaded guilty to manslaughter – but denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
In a chilling video played to the jury at Bristol Crown Court, Glowka told officers: “Good morning – I just killed my mother.”
She added: “I tried to harm myself as well – but I am very weak. Please help me.” She later adds: “I strangled her. I am a retired vet so I know for sure she’s dead.”
She describes her mother being on the floor in the bedroom and adds: “I was going to kill myself but I didn’t succeed” before adding: “I was at the end of my road.”
While sat on the stairwell, she also tells paramedics: “I killed my mother” and adds she feels a “failure” and “would have preferred to die.” Glowka is later captured on police bodycam footage receiving treatment for neck injuries and lying in an ambulance as she’s arrested for murder. She responds by asking: “Does this mean that my mother is dead?”
Opening the case for the prosecution, Simon Jones stated there was “no dispute” she had unlawfully killed her mother based on her actions and statements but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
However, he added: “That guilty plea does not go far enough. it does not properly reflect the defendant’s true level of responsibilty.
“The prosecution say that however desperate the situation was that the defendant felt she was in, there is no lawful justification for what she did.”
Bristol Crown Court heard the initial call to police was made at 8.11am on Christmas Day last year, when she “calmly reported” that she had just killed her mother and attempted to take her own life but “didn’t succeed”.
When asked why she had done it, she said her mother had recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and she had been a sole carer for 17 years.
The jury was informed that when police arrived, the defendant greeted them at the door of the flat covered in blood and they discovered an “unresponsive elderly female led on a mattress on the floor of the bedroom.”
CPR was administered but paramedics were unable to revive her.
The court heard that the defendant had directed officers to a folder of ‘important’ documents within the flat, which included a letter addressed to a close friend, dated December 25, 2025.
Mr Jones informed the court that this offered a “significant insight” into her thought process and plan.
The letter stated: “I killed my mum as I cannot continue to look after her and I love her too much to put her into an institutionalised care.
“I also cannot envisage life on my own, old age and inevitable health issues.”
She then detailed how her inheritance would benefit the state, as well as her funeral wishes.
Mr Jones continued: “It would seem from this letter that the defendant was getting her affairs in order prior to carrying out the killing. We say that thought process is important when it comes to considering the defendant’s state of mind at the time.”
The defendant was taken to hospital for treatment for two superficial stab wounds to her stomach, and one significant stab wound, approximately two inches deep to her neck.
A post mortem later determined that the victim died from injuries that were “consistent with the account of there having been a period of neck compression prior to death.
During police questioning, Glowka revealed she was an only child to a single mother and told officers: “It was always just the two of us.”
The defendant had relocated to the UK from Poland in December 1994, where she pursued qualifications in small animal veterinary medicine before establishing herself as a self-employed vet in Devizes, Wiltshire.
Her mother had been making regular visits to the UK from 1992 before settling permanently in 2004 when Poland joined the EU.
She also detailed her mother’s deteriorating health conditions.
Mr Jones continued: “While she had always just kept going, she said that she just could not do so any longer. She described it as a spur of the moment decision to end it all and felt the easiest way to “let her go” was using a belt to strangle her and sharp objects to then hurt herself.”
She explained to officers how her mother had risen to use the toilet, as she did most evenings, and she had the belt already prepared in a loop.
“She placed it over her mother’s neck and described her mother standing and facing her own bed, shuffling to find her slippers before going to the bathroom,” the prosecution continued.
“In this moment, the belt went over her mother’s head and round her neck, which caused her mother to lose balance and fall to the floor.
“She said that her mother made no noise and didn’t speak but did appear to grab at the belt and try to loosen it but simply did not have the strength.
“She acknowledged in that moment, that her mother had made efforts to stop herself from dying.”
Mr Jones said the defendant then revealed during questioning: “I felt awful but felt our story would be over and thought it would be nice to die on the same day.”
Glowka has pleaded not guilty to murder due to diminished responsibility and maintains she was suffering from an ‘abnormality of mental function.’
The trial continues.
