More defences

I don’t intend to harp on about this case, but the defendant (that’s him on the right, although that might not be his official mugshot) has just upped the stakes with the new twist in his story that he did not realise the girl was dead until after he had sex with her body.

Meanwhile, in a courtroom down the hall at the Old Bailey, another man is shoring up my increasing conviction that somewhere there’s a website where these gynocidal bastards have been congregating to concoct ever worse defences as a bet:

A “successful businesswoman” was stabbed to death while on a first date with a man she had met in a nightclub, the Old Bailey has heard. Karl Taylor, 27, denies murdering Kate Beagley, a 37-year-old manager, in Richmond, south-west London last year.

Mr Taylor claims he took the knife to steal Miss Beagley’s Volkswagen Golf car, but stabbed her after an argument.

Mr Clarke told the court the Crown did not accept Mr Taylor’s version of what happened on 30 May 2007. He said Mr Taylor chatted to his girlfriend, Lauren, on his mobile phone as he drove Miss Beagley’s car with her body in the boot back through London in the early hours of the morning.

Over the next few days, the court was told, Mr Taylor “showed off his new car” to acquaintances and sold Miss Beagley’s mobile phone to one of his friends.

Mr Clarke told the court that Mr Taylor had admitted he hid a kitchen knife up his sleeve before going out on the date with Miss Beagley, a sales manager with British Gas.

Mr Taylor later told police they sat on a bench for a while before leaving and driving off in Miss Beagley’s car. He said he had lied to her about dropping his keys near the bench and when they returned they had an argument and he stabbed her.

Mr Clarke said Mr Taylor’s version of events failed to explain why it was necessary to stab Miss Beagley 31 times, including in the face, neck and throat.

“Yeah, of course I took a knife with me, but only to steal her car. And of course I killed her with it, but that’s not murder, it’s self-defence or something.”

Has no-one explained to them that a guilty plea in these circumstances would probably be the best option? Or are they deliberately taking the piss, being blithely unaware that the guidance about non-custodial sentences for a first offence doesn’t extend to murder?

Rock Bill

For all that the debate about the nationalisation of Northern Rock is going to be omnipresent and deeply tedious in the short term—especially, I submit, for those who have to transcribe the ongoing fracas in Parliament about it—there is still some small whimsical enjoyment to be had from headlines such as “Rock bill before Parliament”.

Clause 1 – Readiness to rock

(1) The Secretary of State may order that a designated person’s hands be placed in the air in accordance with regulations under Schedule 3 and –

(a) waved to indicate that the designated person does not care;

(b) shaped to resemble a pair of horns; or

(c) generally signify, in any reasonable way the Secretary of State deems suitable, the designated person’s predisposition to rock out.

Etc.