Roderick Deakin-White found guilty of murdering his Australian fiancee Amy Parsons
A London court has found the cross-dressing partner of Melbourne woman Amy Parsons guilty of her murder, with a homicide detective labelling the case as one of the “most vicious” he had ever seen.
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- Accused killer of Amy Parsons has most of defence thrown out
- Boyfriend says Parsons issued ‘ultimatum’ over cross-dressing
Cross-dressing killer Roderick Deakin-White has been found guilty of murdering his Australian fiancee Amy Parsons.
Deakin-White, 38, is now facing a life sentence for beating his girlfriend of eight years to death with a metal bar at their London home last April.
Ms Parsons, 35, was trying to leave her obsessive boyfriend when he beat her to death.
She was seeking to flee his months of stalking and his insistence on wearing women’s underwear during sex.
The jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court gave a majority verdict of 9 to 2 to convict Deakin-White on Tuesday, local time.
The jury members failed after two days to deliver a unanimous verdict.
A hardened London homicide detective labelled the Australian woman’s murder one of the “most vicious” he had ever seen after the verdict was handed down on Tuesday.
Crown Court judge John Lafferty said the Australian woman’s murder was “truly dreadful.”
“This naked, defenceless woman was hit in the shower by a heavy metal bar … it was ghastly, it was truly dreadful,” he told the court.
“I fail to see anyone could have been unsure that the defendant intended to kill her.
“Multiple blows around the face and head were calculated to kill.
“In my judgment this verdict was entirely right.”
Deakin-White is likely to appeal, the court heard, after his defence that he lost control during the murder was struck out.
He had claimed through the trial that he suffered from child sexual abuse and possible autism.
The court heard Deakin-White destroyed both he and Ms Parsons’ mobile phones to hide the trail of his constant, obsessive texts.
He rifled through her text messages and Uber taxi receipts to prove she was having an affair with the man she was intending to leave him for, James Saunders.
The relationship between Deakin-White and Ms Parsons had broken down due to his insistence on wearing women’s underwear during sex, which he linked to childhood trauma.
The court also heard that Deakin-White had been abusive towards Amy for a long period of time, and her family had become frightened by him during their visits to Australia.
Ms Parsons’s mother Leonie and sister Eve came to London from Australia and sat through every day of the trial hoping for justice.
“We were very relieved when the response came back of guilty,” sister Eve said.
“We had concerns with the amount of time it took and we weren’t sure it was going to come back in our favour.
“We hope his sentence is a life-long one as our sentence is a life-long one without her.
“Amy was a wonderful person. She was the outgoing one, the fun one, the brave one.
“She did not deserve to die in the savage and painful way that she did.”
Metropolitan Police homicide division’s Detective Inspector Darren Jones said Parsons had paid the “ultimate price” for trying to escape her abusive fiancé.
“Deakin-White was a callous man who launched a vicious attack on Amy in her own home where she should have felt safe,” he said outside court.
“Amy knew the kind of man Deakin-White was and was trying to take positive steps to move on with her life.
“He could not stand she was moving on with her life and [he would] no longer be able to take advantage of her kind nature.
“It is one of the more vicious assaults I have witnessed in my policing career.”
Deakin-White looked blankly through a glass screen as the guilty verdict was handed down.
Life sentences are set in law for murder in England and Wales, but a non-parole period will be set on November 20.
Judge Lafferty warned the family of Ms Parsons that the verdict was very likely to be appealed.