A convicted drug-dealer, burglar and car thief has once again been found guilty of murdering Speke teenager Kelsey Shaw after a re-trial.
Callum Wilcocks, now 23, of Hale Drive, strangled the lightly built 17-year-old at her friend’s flat in Foundry Lane, Widnes, on April 29, 2011, after a row about them seeing other people.
But today a jury dismissed the defence that Wilcocks lost his self-control or suffered an “abnormality of mental function” due to a severe personality disorder, after a seven day trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
Wilcocks was originally found guilty of murder and received a life sentence with a minimum of 15 years in prison in December, 2011.
However he won the right to appeal in October 2014, and a fresh trial was ordered earlier this year.
The cocaine addict always admitted choking his on-off girlfriend Kelsey in an arm lock before continuing to throttle her with his hands when she collapsed.
The court heard the pair, who first met in 2006, had a fiery relationship and “fought like cat and dog”, according to Wilcocks’ mum Toni Wilcocks.
In his police interview the defendant said: “I had this mad feeling in my head, she just needed to die, and get out of my life.”
The court heard the previous day Wilcocks had noticed a text from another man on her phone and confronted her, but Kelsey countered by bringing up an affair he had with her cousin.
Kelsey Shaw
The pair had been drinking and snorting cocaine with Kelsey’s friend, trainee hairdresser Rebecca McDonald, at Miss McDonald’s flat the night before the murder.
The following afternoon Miss McDonald left to drop her baby son off at her mother’s house, expecting the victim and defendant to leave shortly afterwards in a taxi.
Miss McDonald described to the jury how she returned to the flat to find the door blocked, and Wilcocks behind it saying “give us a minute, hang on a minute.”
Simon Medland, QC, prosecuting, suggested to the jury that Wilcocks was “finishing off” his victim at this point.
Miss McDonald eventually managed to force the door partially open, only to see Kelsey’s lifeless arm flop around the door.
Shortly afterwards, Wilcocks emerged screaming “she’s dead” while Miss McDonald ran away in terror.
The second trial hinged on the issue of whether Wilcocks could be held responsible for his actions due to the personality disorder, with psychiatrists clashing over the diagnosis.
Expert defence witnesses Dr Rajan Nathan and Dr Jonathan Shapero both gave the opinion that Wilcocks had a “severe” disorder which could have reduced his ability to control his behaviour.
However prosecution witness Dr Laurence Chesterman “markedly disagreed” and said the evidence did not suggest Wilcocks had the condition in 2011.
Dr Chesterman said he believed Wilcocks had been exaggerating his symptoms and did not display the extreme behaviour in prison he would expect from a patient.
Mr Medland told the jury Wilcocks had come “nowhere near” proving his responsibility had been diminished.
He said: “It must be comfortable for him to think, I have killed my girlfriend Kelsey by strangling her but I’m not responsible because I’m ill.”
Gareth Evans, QC, defending, had argued his client was “abnormal” and “damaged goods,” and snapped after a “barrage of insults, threats and revelations” from Kelsey in the moments before her death.
Wilcocks had claimed in court that she told him he should kill himself, that their daughter was not his child and mocked his sexual performance compared to another man.
However Mr Medland suggested Wilcocks had “made up” these comments and did not mention them in his police interview.
He told the jury: “The picture here is of young man who didn’t have the best upbringing, there will be many who had worse upbringings, there will be many who had better. He may not have exhibited the best behaviour, as I’m sure many in a custodial setting would not, but all of that is a long way away from excusing what he did to Kelsey Shaw, when he murdered her.”
Wilcocks is due to be sentenced this afternoon.
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/