Amy Parsons’ killer tells court she gave him an ‘ultimatum’ over cross-dressing
The man who beat Amy Parsons to death has told a London court that the Melbourne woman was fed up with him dressing in women’s clothes and wanted to return to Australia.
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Amy Parsons was planning to move back to Australia and had demanded her fiance stop cross-dressing before he killed her.
A London court heard that Parsons, 35, returned from a solo Christmas trip home to Victoria with an “ultimatum”.
Roderick Deakin-White, her partner, was on trial for her murder in London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court.
He revealed how the relationship was breaking down in the months before he killed her on April 25.
“She had said a lot of stuff, one of the things she said was that she didn’t miss me,” Deakin-White said Parsons told him.
“But she did give me an ultimatum she wanted me to stop cross-dressing and she said she was ready to move back to Australia.
“Amy drafted a visa application for me, she started it in January when she got back.”
Deakin-White also told the court about a Facebook page he set up in the name of a woman called Jane.
He said he posted pictures of him in “make up and all the rest of it. I don’t know why.”
The couple also argued about money because Deakin-White was unemployed.
KILLER ‘LOVE STRUCK’
Deakin-White also told the court he was “love struck” when he met Parsons, as he tried to claim loss of control as a defence against her murder.
The unemployed graphic designer revealed how the couple met when she visited her family who lived near his parents in the UK.
“I was love struck I was blown away,” he said of their first meeting.
“Mum had mentioned Amy was over from Aus[tralia] and that it was Eve’s sister.
“It’s not destiny because I’m here now.
“We spoke all night, we chatted we just really hit it off.”
The defence of loss of control is a partial defence that may reduce liability for murder to manslaughter. It does not operate to absolve the defendant of liability completely.
It is not a general defence and exists only for the offence of murder.
Deakin-White, who told the court he had only ever had one other brief relationship, said their relationship moved fast.
“We were intimate on the first night we met. I wanted ‘the one’. We hit if off properly,” he said.
They then met in London at The Sun & 13 Cantons pub in Soho.
Parsons then invited him to New York where they spent a month together.
“Some of the best days of my life really,” he said of the trip.
KILLER ‘LOST CONTROL’
The honeymoon did not last however, as Deakin-White said he became depressed, stopped working and was reluctant to go out on weekends.
The relationship hit trouble and Parsons had tried to get him to move out in the weeks before her death in April this year.
“What I have done is unforgivable,” he said, but denied he had been verbally abusive to Parsons during their relationship.
“There was no shouting at Amy, there was no shouting at airports.”
Deakin-White, under questioning from his barrister, admitted he killed Parsons with a metal bar.
He said he did not know he could claim loss of control as a legal defence when he had told police he had murdered Parsons when he first handed himself in.
Parsons’ mother Leonie and sister Eve were in court.
The unemployed graphic designer, 38, who originally said he was “a murderer” changed his story during a police interview, the court heard, trying to say her death was an accident.
The court also heard he also hid his mobile phone and refused to give police his passcode.
“When I handed myself in, I had not slept for a long time and obviously what happened should not have happened,” he said in his recorded police interview.
“But with me explaining it in the state I was in, not a real interview set up like this, I did not think it is right to use it like it is Gospel […].”
Deakin-White also told police that he had been staying at his parents house before the murder after Parsons, 35, had told him she wanted to break up because she had found a new partner.
“She just kept saying she needed some space,” he said.
“It was just the same conversation we kept having.”
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Deakin-White, wore a navy blue suit, white shirt and dark tie, with brown shoes and brown belt.
The jury was shown the 64cm Everlast chin up bar that was used to kill her.
Deakin-White told police that he hit Parsons, an executive assistant, several times with the bar while she was in the shower, with the first blow to her jaw on April 25 this year.
“She was side on,” he said.
“I didn’t hit her after she slipped, it’s all very hard to talk about this. I hit her several times (before she slipped).”
Deakin-White then noticed that she was breathing heavily but instead of calling an ambulance for help, he pulled the door to their East London flat shut, locked it and put on the alarm as he departed.
![Roderick Deakin-White told a court he “deserves everything [he] gets” over the shocking attack.. Picture: Facebook](https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/fb7ad372ba80bdfae13aa75493c56238?width=650)
Police only returned the following day after Deakin-White went to hand himself in.
According to police evidence, Deakin-White said: “I am beside myself. I have to live with this. You can send me to prison for the rest of my life, but none of that matters.
“I have lost Amy. This is so raw and hurts. This is the most horrible thing to happen to lose someone.”
Deakin-White, who had said the couple argued over his cross-dressing, has admitted manslaughter but denied murder.
Parsons’ family declined to comment outside court.
The trial continues.
stephen.drill@news.co.uk