London (AFP) – The jury in the Dalian Atkinson murder trial at Birmingham Crown Court heard a statement Thursday from the former footballer’s father that his son was “not in his right mind” on the night he was tasered outside his family home. The statement was given to officers by the then 85-year-old Ernest Atkinson a week after his son’s death. Ernest Atkinson, who has since died, told police his son had grabbed him around the throat after “pounding” on the door of his home in the early hours of the morning. The trial heard on Tuesday that Atkinson, who played for Villa in the 1990s, went into cardiac arrest and died aged 48 on August 15, 2016 in Telford, 30 miles (50 kilometres) from Birmingham, after a Taser was deployed for six times longer than is standard.