Thank you JamJim, Niner thank you and take care, and thanks to all here, I think Libby's threads have been a good example of what WS can offer, a really good discussion and different viewpoints. And we've had good local input which is very important. I know for me that this is a case that will stay with me for good. It's the haunting CCTV, the catastrophic chain of events, the bitterness of the weather, the care for the victim Libby and the truly miraculous recovery of her body which has ensured that PR will pay for what he did.
I was thinking a bit more about what might have contributed to Libby's death. Something that has always stuck with me was (having wandered outside myself to the car on one of the nights when she had first gone missing) was just how unbearable the temp of -5 was for me in about a minute of being outside. My teeth were chattering in seconds and I was shivering which are healthy responses, but I haven't heard anything in the reports about whether witnesses saw any signs that Libby was doing this. And taking the amount of time she was outside and the large surface area of her uncovered legs from which she would have lost so much heat, I have to believe she was dangerously hypothermic.
I've only ever dealt with one hypothermic patient personally many years ago and thank God I had an experienced night sister with me. But I remember she was spot on about how critical it is (and counter-intuitive) that you have to warm someone up very very gradually. I have a vague memory that we even put him into the bath and very slowly warmed the water, he was an elderly man and the weather was just cold not bitter, he survived thank God but my colleague really thought that he wouldn't. The reason is that rapid change in temps can cause the heart to go into abnormal and dangerous arrythmias. I'm wondering if the combination of Libby warming up too quickly in PR's car, then going back into the cold, the stress on her heart from terror, trying to get away, the shock of being assaulted/heavy weight on her at this time, plus PR putting his hand over her mouth caused her heart to go into an arrythmia? I think it's very likely, although I think it's equally likely that he intentionally asphyxiated her.
Either way I think it would have been very much quicker given the stress her body was under. And it might be relevant that when someone is in the latter stages of hypothermia, even if PR had been looking for a pulse/signs of life (which I doubt) they are almost undetectable at that stage. So at that point even after a quasi-accidental death/onset of acute hypothermia in the course/aftermath of a rape, Libby could not have put herself in the river. It is too convenient for PR that this was where she was found.
I agree that Mr. Wright's sum up was great, he pretty much said exactly what I would have said. I think/hope it will resonate with the jury, and I agree with Steve that the fact that you have a very vulnerable and sympathetic victim plus her family sitting there in court through this ordeal will result in them feeling a strong responsibility to them to give them a guilty verdict. And there is no danger of a miscarriage of justice here, we know PR is a dangerous rapist/predator, you have DNA evidence of this and the circumstances of the case/ his lies and "consciousness of guilt" show that he is very likely IMO also a murderer and a serious risk. And as Mr Wright says, it is just too convenient for PR that Libby was found (only just) in the river. If she had been found in the street, straight away with no clear evidence of cause of death, a tiny amount of doubt might be there for me over the murder charge.
