The accused killer of Amy Parsons has had most of his defence trial thrown out by the judge
The boyfriend of Amy Parsons has had the majority of his defence, including autism and child sexual abuse, thrown out by the judge with prosecution calling him a “murderer and a liar”.
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The cross dressing fiance who killed Australian woman Amy Parsons had almost all of his defence case struck out, as a court heard that he had abused her during trips back home.
Roderick Deakin-White, 39, had previously claimed he killed Ms Parsons, 35, because he lost control, which is a defence in law to murder.
He also claimed he suffered from child sexual abuse and possible autism, which his lawyers argued should reduce the charge from murder to manslaughter.
Judge John Lafferty, sitting at London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court, ruled that the loss of control defence was not permitted.
Deakin-White’s defence barrister Richard Kerry-Hughes, QC, told the jury he could not deliver a closing speech after the loss of control defence was rejected.
A London jury heard how Deakin-White aimed at his longtime girlfriend’s head with a metal bar in April and tried to destroy evidence of his obsessive attempts to keep her.
He destroyed both he and Parsons’ mobile phones to hide the trail of his constant, obsessive texts.
As the prosecution summed up their case, crown prosecutor Gareth Patterson called him a “murderer” and a “liar”.
Mr Patterson told the court how Parsons’ family feared Deakin-White because of the way he treated her in a trip home to Australia several years ago.
“Amy’s mother told the court how she was cowering and crying in Australia, as he ranted and raved,” the crown prosecutor said.
“She (Amy) didn’t raise her concerns of Deakin-White with her family because she knew they didn’t like him … and we can see why she was cowering.
“He said after the killing, he had been mugged … he had in fact destroyed both the phones.”
Ms Parsons had been concerned with Deakin-White’s lack of a job and desire to wear women’s underwear during sex.
He had also been growing more and more obsessed with her. He rifled through her text messages and Uber taxi receipts to prove she was having an affair.
She had met another man, James Saunders, and was going to leave her overly obsessive boyfriend of seven years.
“Amy was kind and considerate … he was possessive,” the prosecutor said.
“He went through her Uber logs … he himself said his behaviour was stalkerish.
“He hit her with severe force directed at her head. The bath and tiles were not struck.
“He said he didn’t want to lose her … in 2019, a woman is not the possession of a man.”
Deakin White stared at the floor behind a glass screen as Parson’s family and friends watched on.
Judge Lafferty said Ms Parsons’ eight-year-long tolerance of his cross-dressing may call into question Mr Deakin-White’s suggestions she was cruel.
“You (the jury) may think Amy Parsons was a kind, generous, successful young woman from the evidence,” the judge said at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
“For a long time she tolerated Mr Deakin-White’s cross-dressing. She didn’t like it, but she tolerated it.”
The jury has now retired and will consider their verdict.
Deakin-White had previously told the court he developed the fetish for women’s underwear – which led to the breakdown of his relationship with Ms Parsons – after being forced to dress up and abused when he was 10.
He had also told the court that Ms Parsons had made demeaning comments to him before he hit her.
The trial continues.