Anne James: Alleged killer 'had driven to grandmother's for engagement ring cash'
A man alleged to have killed his ‘perfect’ grandmother drove to her house to pick up cash she was giving him for an engagement ring just before she was found stabbed more than 40 times, a jury heard.
Gregory Irvin, 26, told a psychiatrist he had rang 74-year-old Anne James on the day she died but she was at the chiropractor and told him she had left money for him in the keysafe box at the back of the house.
Irvin, who was heavily in debt due to gambling and cocaine addictions, drove to her three-storey home in Doveridge Place, Sandwell Street, Walsall, and found £250 in a plastic bag where she had said.
The jury has been told by an expert witness that the defendant, diagnosed with high-functioning Autistic Syndrome Disorder(ASD), possibly had a psychotic meltdown due to a build-up of stress, heightened by a long-term depressive disorder, which could explain why he killed Mrs James for no apparent reason.
He claims to have a memory black-out covering the period his car was seen outside her house at the time she is thought to have been murdered.
His defence team suggest the memory lapse could be due to the traumatic impact of what he had done.
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They will argue that the charge should be reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to his mental condition.
Irvin also claimed to have been driven by ‘devil-like’ voices telling him to commit murder and robbery.
But consultant psychiatrist Dr Nicholas Kennedy said Irvin, by his own description, was quite happy on February 28, the day Mrs James was found dead in her kitchen, having picked up the engagement cash.
He also said Irvin’s memory lapse did not follow the expected clinical pattern.
The defendant, who described his relationship with his grandmother as ‘perfect’, does not recall driving to her house, only walking up to her front door and then nothing more until being in his girlfriend’s flat hours later and finding 18 missed calls on his phone from family members telling him his gran had had an accident.
Dr Kennedy said: “It’s my opinion that we, as psychiatrists, cannot conclude on the balance of probabilities that the mental disorder is the explanation for the killing. In my opinion it’s a decision for the jury.”
He also asked Irvin why he did not mention the voices he said he had been hearing for about a year to his GP. Irvin told him he ‘wanted to worry about it in his own way,’ Birmingham Crown Court heard.
Irvin will not be giving evidence in his own defence.
The judge, Justice Nerys Jefford, told the jury they were free to draw their own conclusions from that.
Mr Timothy Raggatt, QC, defending, said Irwin’s mind was impaired due to his mental condition which affected his judgment and ability to exercise self-control.
Irwin, of Bilboe Road, Bradley, Bilston, denies murder. The case continues.
