Psychiatrists claimed a “severe” personality disorder may have led to the killer of Speke teenager Kelsey Shaw losing control and strangling her.
Callum Wilcocks, 23, of Hale Drive, Widnes , admits causing his on-off girlfriend’s death but claims his condition means he is only guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, rather than murder.
The issue of whether he was in control of his actions when he killed 17-year-old Kelsey at her friend’s flat in Foundry Lane, Widnes on April 29, 2011, is central to his trial at Liverpool Crown Court .
Wilcocks, who was a heavy drinker and had a regular cocaine habit, strangled the mum-of-one after a row about them seeing other people.
Today the court heard he met five of the nine categories used to diagnose Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), including impulsiveness, suicidal feelings and difficulty controlling anger.
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Jonathan Shapero, told the court he believed Wilcocks suffered from a mixed personality disorder, featuring traits of BPD and another condition, Anti-Social Personality Disorder (ASPD).
Another expert witness, Dr Rajan Nathan, said he assessed Wilcocks in 2011 and believed him to be suffering from both BPD and ASPD at the time of Kelsey’s death.
Under questioning from defence counsel Gareth Evans, QC, Dr Shapero said: “All of us experience changes in mood, we may feel very down in a reactive way to things that may happen, we may perhaps talk about feeling down and not wanting to go on. But someone with personality disorder may have a very intense reaction to things that may seem quite minor.”
Dr Shapero assessed Wilcocks in 2013, and was told how the defendant had enjoyed stealing and deliberately crashing cars, and claimed to have committed up to 120 burglaries.
He said Wilcocks displayed a “callous disregard for social norms”, and claimed the only criminal offence he felt bad about was killing Kelsey.
The court heard the defendant had a history of suicide attempts, including trying to hang himself from the bars of a prison cell in 2008 while serving a sentence for robbery, after hearing Kelsey was seeing another man.
Kelsey Shaw from Speke
Wilcocks also talked about his relationship with Kelsey, telling Dr Shapero: “It was like I was addicted to the relationship. It felt like there was an attraction in my chest and she kept drawing me back to her.”
He told Dr Shapero that Kelsey had taunted him about being a bad lover, and told him their three-year-old daughter was not his child in the moments before the fatal attack.
Dr Shapero said Wilcocks’ description of Kelsey’s death demonstrated he may have been suffering from a “state of disassociation” while he was strangling her.
The jury heard that Wilcocks told him: “I was in my own world, I can’t describe what it was, I was in a state of mind where I had no feelings.”Dr Shapero said: “He was a man whose reactions to stressful circumstances were often extreme, he was a man whose reactions would be different from ours.”
Simon Medland, QC, prosecuting, pointed to a statement made by Wilcocks in one of his interviews with Dr Shapero, which said: “I never intended to kill Kelsey, I don’t think I formed a rational judgement to kill her at that time.”Mr Medland suggested Wilcocks used the phrase “rational judgement” because he knew it could help him be convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.
Dr Shapero replied: “No, this was two years later. I think he was rationalising his behaviour out of guilty feelings.”
Further medical evidence will be heard tomorrow.
(Proceeding)
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/