Man linked to multiple slayings found after absconding from CAMH
James Rushton, 43, who was found not criminally responsible for father's 2019 death, located by cops Monday
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The man found by police after walking away from a downtown psychiatric ward was responsible for the death of two people — including the 2019 stabbing death of his father.
James Rushton, 43, absconded from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) at Queen St. W. and Ossington Ave. Sunday at around 3:30 p.m.
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He was located by police Monday afternoon and returned to custody.
He was found not criminally responsible for the October 2019 second-degree murder of his father Thomas Denney, 62.
According to media reports, police found Rushton at the time near King St. and University Ave. — incoherent and covered with blood — after repeatedly stabbing his father.
Denney’s murder came two years after Rushton was convicted of bashing his father’s head with a rock, a crime for which he was sentenced to time served for his 200 days of pretrial custody.
At the time of that May 2017 attack, Rushton had been released on a recognizance while facing charges from the previous November of robbery, failure to comply with probation conditions and possession of the proceeds of crime.
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He was also convicted in the 2000s for domestic violence against his sister and a former partner.
In 2019, Rushton reportedly told arresting officers that his father was the devil and that he’d killed before.
In 2005, he was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison on a manslaughter conviction after sucker-punching a man who allegedly pulled on a female acquaintance’s blouse — with the judge noting he was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine at the time.
His victim died after a single punch, court documents stated.
Freed in 2008 on a statutory release, he was sent back to prison to complete his full term after he admitted to using crack.
A 2008 parole board document, obtained by the Toronto Sun, highlights Rushton’s history of drug- and booze-fuelled violence.
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
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