Man tried to cut off head of ex-lover (From Swindon Advertiser)

Man tried to cut off head of ex-lover

8:20am Tuesday 9th February 2010 in

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A MAN attempted to cut off the head of his ex-girlfriend after he had psychotic delusions that she was planning to murder him, a court heard.

Benjamin Cooper, 35, hacked at Claire Marshall’s throat with a pen-knife before he grabbed a larger knife in a bid to cut her from “ear to ear”.

The couple had moved from Swindon to Millom in Cumbria but separated in January 2008.

It was there that Miss Marshall’s teenage daughter watched in horror as he killed the former Swindon College student, who had also worked at TDF Logistics in South Marston.

Cooper held the knife to the girl but she escaped with her younger sister and alerted neighbours.

Then, soaked with blood, he drove to the home of his stepfather and attempted to kill him with a meat cleaver.

Manchester Crown Court was told the mother-of-three was pronounced dead by paramedics after what the Crown Prosecution Service said was an attack of the “utmost savagery”.

Cooper pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and attempted murder.

Sentencing is due to take place tomorrow.

Prosecutor Howard Bentham QC said the defendant was well-educated and articulate but heavy drinking and sustained drug abuse had affected the way he behaved.

He had regular access to the one daughter the couple had together but had not seen her for weeks leading to Christmas 2008 before he arranged “out of the blue” to pick her up on January 24 last year.

In a statement to police, Miss Marshall’s teenage daughter – who cannot be named for legal reasons – said she noticed Cooper was not talking much when he arrived.

“He was looking at my mam dead weird,” she said. “He was looking scary.”

She then said he “jumped” on her mother, got her on to the floor, sat on her and repeatedly hit her around the head.

“Then he got a pen knife out. He started to cut her throat,” she told detectives.

“It was all a blur... then he jumped off her and ran to the kitchen to grab a knife.

“I tried to stop him and reason with him. He pushed me away and he held the knife up to me. I ran out of the house with my sister to the neighbour’s house to get help for my mum.”

Miss Marshall had screamed for the children to get out of the house as she was being attacked.

Mr Bentham said: “It is clear that the attack on her mother took place first of all with a folding knife and with that he made a determined effort to cut Claire Marshall from ear to ear.

“Presumably he found that knife inadequate and got the second larger knife and continued with that. I emphasise that neither girl could have done any more than they did to try to save their mother. They did all they possibly could for their mother.”

The children alerted a man who was repairing the next door neighbour’s washing machine and he went to the house and tried without success to pull Cooper off Miss Marshall.

He drove to the nearest police station and said that the victim was still alive at the moment he left the Newton Road address.

When police and ambulance crews arrived, she was lying face down in the living room.

The court heard she had suffered 21 wounds to the head and neck, 12 to the right arm and eight to the left arm, with lesser injuries to the lips and mouth.

Home Office pathologist Dr Brian Rogers stated: “I can think of no explanation other than the offender was trying to cut off Claire Marshall’s head.”

The likelihood is that she would have died quickly, Mr Bentham said.

After leaving Miss Marshall, Cooper drove the short distance to his stepfather Gerald Fern’s home in Mainsgate Road.

Mr Fern asked him what he was “up to” and Cooper replied he had been “doing a bit of butchery”.

While Mr Fern’s back was turned Cooper picked up a meat cleaver which was in the house and struck two blows to the back of his head, said Mr Bentham.

A struggle ensued before Cooper went on to pull out a second knife in a bid to further wound Mr Fern and then found two more knives in the house.

The prosecutor said the fight spilled out on to the street before Cooper suddenly announced: “That’s enough.”

Mr Bentham said: “Mr Fern asked why, and he replied ‘Claire’s in a worse state than you are’.”

Mr Fern was airlifted to hospital which had probably saved his life, the court heard. His right ear had nearly been cut off completely and he had suffered deep lacerations to his skull, right shoulder, chest and back.

When arrested Cooper gave a “very detailed” account of the incident at his ex-partner’s home and fully described the weapons he had used.

Mr Bentham said: “He said he could recall cutting into the back of her neck with a carving knife. He said he felt a bit frenzied.

“He thought Claire was going to have him murdered over the next week or in the next few days. He said, ‘I suppose I was at the end of my rope, I suppose I seized the initiative, I do not clearly remember making a decision’.”

Cooper would not admit murdering Mis Marshall and denied he wanted to murder Mr Fern but conceded he probably wished to cause him serious harm. He told detectives: “I thought, well they are going to kill me anyway, I’m going to be sent down. So I might as well get Gez (Mr Fern).”