SPALDING MURDER TRIAL: '˜I'm glad she's dead, she deserved it,' defendant told psychiatrist

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph told a jury at Nottingham Crown Court that when he interviewed the girl as part of an assessment she told him she was pleased that school dinner lady Elizabeth Edwards was dead.

Dr Joseph said the girl told him: “She deserved it. I’m glad she’s dead.”

The girl, he said, spoke of watching the vampire themed Twilight and having sex with the boy after the killings of Mrs Edwards (49) and her daughter Katie (13).

The jury has heard that the two victims were stabbed in the neck as they slept in adjoining bedrooms at their home in Dawson Avenue, Spalding.

The killings were carried out by a 14-year-old boy but the prosecution say the girl was “in control” and had planned with him what took place. The prosecution say she is just as guilty of murder as he is.

The jury has heard they originally intended that each of them should carry out a killing but the girl changed her mind at the last minute so the boy killed both victims

Dr Joseph said the girl told him: “We felt laid back about what we’d done and neither of us felt that bad about it. We both willingly went along with it.”

Describing the girl he said: “She is an intelligent teenager. She was fairly engaging and quite cheerful.”

Dr Joseph added that the girl told him: “Everything is wrong with me. For a 15-year-old to be talking about it like it was a breeze means there must be something wrong with me.”

But Dr Joseph said that his opinion was that the girl was not suffering from any abnormality of mind at the time of the killings.

The defence say she was suffering from an adjustment disorder which impaired her judgement and gives her a defence of diminished responsibility.

But Dr Joseph said: “It is absolutely clear that she was not suffering from any sort of mental illness at the time.

“Even if she was suffering from an adjustment disorder it does not make you violent. I have never heard of a case of a planned killing as a result of adjustment disorder.”

The 14-year-old girl denies two charges of murder between April 12 and 15 but admits manslaughter due to diminished responsibility. The 14-year-old boy admits two charges of murder. Both defendants are now aged 15.

• The trial continues.

Previously...

Teenagers had sex after killings, court hears