GUILTY UK - Amy Parsons, 35, murdered, London, 26 April 2019 *Arrest*

[Legally Bland]

A Melbourne woman who was found dead in her London flat on Friday was allegedly murdered by her partner.

Amy Parsons, 35, was found dead in a flat in Crowder Street, Whitechapel, at 1.30pm on Friday.

Her partner, Roderick Deakin-White, 37, was arrested and was due to face the Thames magistrates court on Monday, charged with her murder.

Amy Parsons case: partner of Australian woman found dead in London charged with murder



Friends back in Melbourne were struggling to comprehend the tragic news on Monday.

"She was one of the best people you could meet," said one friend, who was too upset to speak at length.

"I just had lunch with her in January – she was back in Melbourne. She was just a very good person."

Ms Parsons' LinkedIn profile suggests she had been working in London for the past seven years as a personal assistant at financial services firm, Old Mutual.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/australian-woman-murdered-in-london-20190429-p51i6u.html



Detectives have charged a man with murder following the death of a woman in Whitechapel.

Police attended a flat in Crowder Street, E1 at around 13:30hrs on Friday, 26 April, following concerns for the welfare of a female resident.

Officers attended with the London Ambulance Service. A 35-year-old woman was discovered. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Roderick Deakin-White, 37 (14.10.81), of Crowder Street, E1, was arrested on suspicion of murder the same day.

He was charged on Sunday, 28 October and will appear at Thames Magistrates' Court on Monday, 29 April.

The family of the victim have been informed; though formal identification has not yet been carried out, she has been named as Amy Parsons, 35, of Crowder Street, E1.

A post-mortem is expected to conducted this week.

The arrested and the deceased are believed to have been known to each other. At this stage, no other person is being sought in connection with this incident.

Man charged with murder following death of woman in Whitechapel



Amy's FB:

https://www.facebook.com/amy.parsons.7549

 

[AnnesCuthberts]

There is no is dispute he killed the victim and the trial will centre on why he acted in the way he did.

The couple are thought to have been together for at least six years.

Deakin-White appeared on a video link from Thameside prison and spoke only to confirm his identity.

Judge Anthony Leonard QC set a plea hearing for 23 July and a trial from 28 October, due to last up to two weeks.

Amy Parsons case: Roderick Deakin-White faces London court over murder of Australian fiancee

Was looking to see if there were any more info on this. RIP Amy. Death through partner violence is truly awful

 

[Tortoise]

When the charge of murder was put to him, Deakin-White replied: "Not guilty to murder, guilty to manslaughter."

[...]

Michael Bisgrove, prosecuting, said: "It's not acceptable to the prosecution.

[...]

He was remanded into custody and will next appear for his trial on October 28 at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Graphic designer admits killing Australian fiancée found dead in London flat

 

[Legally Bland]

30 October 2019

Prosecutor Gareth Patterson QC told Snaresbrook Crown Court: 'On Thursday 25 April of this year he attacked his partner and fiancée, a woman called Amy Parsons.


'Unwilling to accept that she was going to leave him, he used a heavy metal bar to hit her repeatedly around the head while she was showering in the Docklands flat which they shared.

'By his blows with that bar he caused her horrific injuries and fractures to the head and to her face and to her brain.

'He left her lying in her own blood in the bath of her flat and walked out of the flat doing nothing to help her or to get her any treatment.'

Miss Parsons was left lying in the bath of her flat and took more than 30 minutes to die, jurors were told
Jurors heard Miss Parsons had received a WhatsApp message from her new lover, James Saunders, 58 minutes before CCTV captured Deakin-White leaving the flat following the attack.

Miss Parsons had been brutalised in the shower and took more than 30 minutes to die after he left her, the jury were told.

Following the attack, the jury heard Deakin-White waded into the Thames to kill himself, but turned round and came back to the river bank.

Mr Patterson said: 'She survived for a short time probably something in the region of one hour, most likely more than 30 minutes.'

The next day the defendant allegedly told police while in custody that 'he went to the Thames near the Prospect of Whitby pub.

'He said he considered killing himself but when he went out into the water he decided against it and returned to the bank of the river.'

The prosecutor said Deakin-White had drunk four beers and champagne with Miss Parsons on the night of the killing but answered 'no comment' when asked if he was drunk at the time by police.

Roderick Deakin-White 'murdered Amy Parsons after arguing about his cross-dressing fetish' | Daily Mail Online

 

[Legally Bland]

7 November 2019

A former graphic designer at the Royal Opera House today told a court how he battered his girlfriend to death after she told him to stop dressing in women's underwear, stockings and make-up to have sex with her.

Roderick Deakin-White, 38, has confessed to killing his Australian fiancee, Amy Parsons, 35, by repeatedly hitting her with a metal 'chin up' bar as she showered at their apartment in Whitechapel, east London.

Deakin-White today told jurors that he used cross dressing as an 'escapism', and would regularly wear women's underwear, stockings and make-up while at home.

He told jurors at Snaresbrook Crown Court that Ms Parsons would sometimes buy underwear for him and 'embrace it' while at other times it would 'really upset her.'


But he said that in January this year she gave him an ultimatum to stop cross-dressing after she returned from a Christmas visit to family and friends in Australia.

Deakin-White told the court they had both been happy in their eight-year relationship, but tensions began at the start of this year when Ms Parsons came back to the UK.

He said tensions surrounded his unemployment and his cross-dressing which was 'always the elephant in the room.'

Deakin-White said he fully 'stopped doing it' when Ms Parsons gave him the ultimatum in January, and that the couple were planning to move to Australia where he hoped to 'start afresh' with a possible new career.

Ex-Royal Opera House graphic designer, 38, tells how he battered his girlfriend, 35, to death | Daily Mail Online

 

[Legally Bland]

The couple had been together eight years before Ms Parsons became unhappy and began sleeping with colleague James Saunders, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

She was planning to dump Deakin-White for her IT worker lover - and he left her ‘slumped and dying’ in the bath of their fifth-floor apartment in Whitechapel after a row when he learned their relationship was over.

Giving evidence today, he admitted he passed her a toothbrush when she showered and then grabbed the pole and hit her on the head, claiming she was 'being confrontational'.

He said: 'My buttons were pushed and I didn’t know what I was doing. It’s hard to remember that actual memory.

‘It’s obviously quite a traumatic thing to have to live with. I remember that action hitting her, I remember her slipping down in the bath, I don’t remember the blood, I don’t remember the sounds.

‘I remember hitting her when she was still up right I remember her slipping and then she was lying in the bath. And I hate the sight of blood.’

Deakin-White said her decision to leave him for Mr Saunders had left him feeling suicidal.

‘I was pacing between rooms, I had already passed her the toothbrush,’ he told Snaresbrook Crown Court.

‘It was there in front of me. My head wasn’t thinking about what object to pickup, I was just doing it. She was being confrontational.

‘I felt angry towards her I don’t know if I wanted to hurt her.

‘You didn’t just shout at her?’ asked Gareth Patterson, QC, prosecuting, adding:'You could have said: “***g so and so I can’t believe the way you’re treating me,” couldn’t you?'

Deakin-White, who admits manslaughter but denies murder, claims he remembers very little of the attack.

Cross-dresser, 38, describes moment he used exercise bar to club his fiancée, 35, to death | Daily Mail Online

 

[Legally Bland]

Jurors heard Deakin White had developed an "emotional and financial" dependency on Amy, who was dissatisfied with the relationship.

She had started seeing colleague James Saunders in the weeks before her death - with Deakin White becoming angry and jealous.

[...]

On April 25, Amy told Deakin White she was leaving him - causing him to pick up a metal crowbar from an airing cupboard and start battering her over the head as she showered.

[...]

Giving evidence in court, Amy's new partner said she had told him Deakin White was "aware the two were in a relationship".

He told jurors he received a text on April 18 from Deakin White reading: "What are you playing at? Back off".

Man battered fiancee to death after she grew sick of his cross-dressing

 

[Tortoise]

Thanks Legally - I didn't realise he's been found guilty from the headline link.

Sentencing November 26th!

 

[Legally Bland]

A man who bludgeoned his fiancee to death with a metal bar after she wanted to leave him because of his cross-dressing has been jailed for 17 years.

[...]

Sentencing Deakin-White on Tuesday at Snaresbrook Crown Court, judge John Lafferty said Ms Parsons was killed in a "most horrendous, savage and brutal way".

Judge Lafferty told Deakin-White: "Your view was that if you can't have her, no-one can have her, and you killed her.

"There is no sentence I can pass upon you today that will bring back Miss Parsons - a young, successful, vivacious and kind-hearted young woman, whose life was brutally taken by you."

[...]

Judge Lafferty sentenced Deakin-White to a minimum of 17 years in prison, reduced by 210 days which he has already served in custody.

Man bludgeoned fiancee to death in jealous rage after she wanted to leave him because of his cross-dressing habits

 

[Tortoise]

Judge Lafferty told Deakin-White: 'This was the culmination of a man who was increasingly angry about the fact that she had formed another relationship and she was determined to end that relationship.

'In your messages you say you cannot lose her, you're going to fight for her, you're not going to let her go. As with many angry, jealous resentful men.

'If you cannot have her, no one will have her and you killed her.

'You then carefully turned off the shower, turned of the light in the bathroom, closed the door, left the premises and set the alarm.

'You took the phone belonging to Amy as well as your own phone.

'You left the flat with the intention of seeing if there was anything you could think about that would help your case. You disposed of your phones.

'I don't accept there was any degree of provocation, I reject your evidence of what she said before going into the shower.

'The evidence on the cameras from your arrest does not show this. You do not mention any of these provocative words to the boat man, to police when you turned yourself in, or in your main police interview.'

Cross-dressing 'Psycho' killer Roderick Deakin-White jailed for murdering girlfriend in London | Daily Mail Online

 

[jaejae]

Here is another report about the sentencing in this case from the BBC:

Man who killed partner in cross-dressing row jailed

Another report:

Jailed: Designer who murdered fiancee after she threatened to leave over his cross-dressing

 

[jaejae]

Here is a report from the Guardian about this case:

Amy Parsons: family of Australian woman murdered in London to appeal former fiancee's sentence

Here is a video report about this case: