PAINTINGS by a Kent-born artist who murdered his father with a knife and razor will be auctioned in London on Wednesday.

Richard Dadd, born in Chatham in 1817, was the son of an apothecary and chemist. He lived in Medway until he was 13.

The two paintings, both watercolours, were created during a tour of the Middle East in the 1840s when Dadd was employed by his patron Sir Thomas Phillips to record the scenes they encountered.

Anna Brady, spokesman for Bonhams, who are auctioning the paintings, said: "They are owned by a lady whose parents hoarded watercolours of various kinds in an album.

"They probably didn't realise the significance of the Dadd paintings, which are being sold separately."

The water colours are expected to realise between £3,000 and £5,000 each.

During his Middle East Tour Dadd began to suffer delusions. When he returned home, he and his father travelled to Cobham, where he was to rest and "unburden his mind".

Instead he murdered his father in a chalk pit in woodlands near the village.