John Delahaye, aged 46, was pronounced dead at HMP Birmingham on Monday, a brief hearing at the city’s Crown Court was told.

Delahaye was arrested on Sunday September 10 last year after a church elder and two other men suffered injuries during a service at the New Jerusalem Apostolic Church in Aston.

The trial of Delahaye, of Ettington Road, Aston, had been due to face trial at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday charged with attempted murder, making threats to kill, wounding, and two counts of possessing a bladed weapon.

During a brief court hearing which discontinued proceedings against Delahaye, prosecutor Phil Bradley QC told Judge Paul Farrer: “Your Honour will have seen the interim death certificate.

“The information I have from the officer in the case is that the defendant was discovered on Monday in his cell at about eight o’clock and he was deceased.

“In the circumstances we ask that the indictment be marked accordingly.”

In a statement posted on the church’s Facebook page shortly after the incident, officials said three members of its congregation had been injured but were recovering well.

The statement said: “We understand that the individual has unfortunately had a number of issues in the past and we do hope and pray that he receives the help he requires in this regard.”

A day after the attack, members of the congregation held a service of fellowship and…

But, in a ComRes poll commissioned by the Church of England and published ahead of Mothering Sunday, the majority (60 per cent) said there was no ideal mother.

Asked, ‘Thinking of well-known mothers, either fictional or real, or from the past or present – what one person would you name as the ideal mother?’, five per cent chose the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry.

The Virgin Mary came eighth on the list, with one per cent of the vote – behind ‘my own mother’, Mother Teresa, The Queen, Michelle Obama, Molly Weasley and Mary Poppins.

The survey, involving 2015 UK adults, also found that a third of people cited readily available support was the most important thing their mother had done for them.

Teaching their child to do the right thing (18 per cent), illustrating the value of hard work (eleven per cent), providing for everything they need (eleven per cent) and being a positive role model (seven per cent) completed the top five.

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