GUILTY UK - Louise Smith, 16, Havant, Hampshire, 8 May 2020 *Arrest*

[Harchmare]

15:05JAMIE PHILLIPS
Defence questions prosecution story

Mr Langdon QC questions the prosecution's statements that Shane Mays led Louise to Havant Thicket.

What sort of girl was Louise? One of the central mysteries is how did he persuade her, if he did, to walk with him on that afternoon. Did Louise have a mind or will of her own? Was she timid? Did she do what she was told or was she someone who for a combination of reasons related to her character and deprivation of love from those who have cared for her, was someone who would do as she pleased and do something for any length of time she did not want to do?

Was she vulnerable, certainly, but was she volatile? Did she have a mind of her own? And if she did not want to do something, how easily would she be persuaded?

Louise Smith murder trial updates as jury told to put 'strong emotions' aside

 

[Sooty]

Is anyone else cross examining Mr Langdon QC whilst he is doing his closing speech ‍ I’m finding it hard to keep quiet

 

[Harchmare]

20 minutes ago
The walk to Havant Thicket
On the prosecution case that Mays lured Louise to Havant Thicket, Mr Langdon says: ‘If she didn’t want to go all that way, would she have done so?

'If she walked because she wanted to, might that indeed be because she wanted to talk to Shane away from CJ? Talk to him about what she wanted from her life.

‘How many adults have ever listened, properly listened, to Louise? Was he a willing ear? Not just about her plans for her room, for her clothes, but also about (her boyfriend) Bradley?’

1 minute ago
‘Not in any sense forgivable’
Mr Langdon says: 'Trees cannot speak of what they saw, moss and leaves will not relate what passed, but something truly terrible happened.

'And of course, Shane Mays has told you what he says played out, about how it ended.

'Has he made it all up? His loss of temper, his unbridled violence, his unforgivable departure from the scene with a mortally (injured) child?

‘It’s quite a thing to make up, if it’s not true.

'What he tells you he did is not in any sense forgivable.

‘He may have a low IQ, he may have a… temper but nothing begins to soften the harshness in which you will view his own account of what he did.’

He adds: ‘A desperate man could of course say anything.’

But Mr Langdon says Mays ‘doesn’t say that’.

Louise Smith trial: Live updates as Shane Mays jury told to put aside emotions

 

[Skigh]

Is anyone else cross examining Mr Langdon QC whilst he is doing his closing speech ‍ I’m finding it hard to keep quiet

I am wondering what CJ did know and cover up.

 

[Harchmare]

Is anyone else cross examining Mr Langdon QC whilst he is doing his closing speech ‍ I’m finding it hard to keep quiet

Cross examine away! I bet you're telling him what we're all thinking

(I'm guilty of cross examining him too)

 

[Harchmare]

Is anyone else cross examining Mr Langdon QC whilst he is doing his closing speech ‍ I’m finding it hard to keep quiet

If you were Mr Langdon QC, what would you tell the jury?

 

[Sooty]

I am wondering what CJ did know and cover up.

if she had anything to offer the defence they would have had her in I’m fairly sure. The fact they didn’t says quite a lot to me.

He refers several times to feeling angry as he felt that Louise was responsible for causing CJ upset the day before - I would have liked to hear CJ talk about that - and also how SM was when he came back home after the attack.

MOO

 

[Harchmare]

1 minute ago
Shirtless man looking ‘frustrated and troubled’
Mr Langdon is reminding jurors of witness Michael Love who told police he saw a shirtless man looking ‘frustrated and troubled’ in Havant Thicket, and thought it may be connected to Louise’s disappearance.

Asks is it impossible that the man - not Mays - used his shirt on the fire.

Louise Smith trial: Live updates as Shane Mays jury told to put aside emotions

 

[Sooty]

If you were Mr Langdon QC, what would you tell the jury?

I think he’s doing best job he can!

 

[Harchmare]

15:33JAMIE PHILLIPS
Defence closing speech continues


Mr Langdon is speaking to the jury about the relationship between Shane and Louise.

After a promising start, it was not all as easy and pleasant as they hoped. They sat her down with ground rules and tried to control her. How much experience of parenting did they [Shane and CJ Mays] have? How easy was it even for an experienced parent to control Louise?

If you get inside the mind of Shane Mays. It is not an easy place to be, but it is a place you need to be if you are trying to learn someone's intentions. This is a man who liked to joke around. When you first saw it [video of Shane tickling Louise's feet] perhaps like the prosecution you thought it was of sexual contact.

If you look at the video and replay it, is it sexual behaviour? Is that what it was? Or was it Shane in his own inadequate way showing he was happy to have her in the home and just messing around? Messing around in a way that no one would have thought sinister if this hadn't ended up the way that it did.

Louise Smith murder trial updates as jury told to put 'strong emotions' aside

 

[Harchmare]

I think he’s doing best job he can!

True... he doesn't have much to work with though!

 

[Sooty]

True... he doesn't have much to work with though!

exactly!

 

[Harchmare]

15:43JAMIE PHILLIPS
Defence tells jury Louise wanted to walk with Shane Mays


Mr Langdon QC continues:

Why did Louise walk all that way with Shane Mays? We know how far it is. We have got the evidence of distance and time and a sense for being there it is a long way. No one is suggesting she was dragged there kicking and screaming as it would have been noticed, so she walked with him all that way, why? Shane has provided an answer, because she wanted to talk.

That is most unlikely as it does not line up with Louise, her phone being close to internet and what teen wants to walk that way. The prosecution asks that question and they believe they found the answer. They believe he lured her there with weed.

Would she have walked because he would have given her some money at the end of a long walk? Is that likely? If she did not want to go all that way, would she have done so? If she walked because she wanted to, might that be because she wanted to talk to Shane away from CJ about what she wanted from her life?

Louise Smith murder trial updates as jury told to put 'strong emotions' aside

 

[Harchmare]

15:50JAMIE PHILLIPS
Prosecution theory 'does not stand up', court hears


Mr Langdon QC says:

How many adults have listen to her? Or be a willing ear for her plans for her clothes, room and her relationship with Bradley. Perhaps the idea that a 16-year-old wanted to talk to a 29-year-old man would be unlikely for a typical 16-year-old and 29-year-old. Is that what you think in this case?

Once they started to walk with an excuse to CJ about why she was going out, perhaps she enjoyed talking to him, perhaps he did not react like other adults who often fell out with her. The prosecution theory as why she walked up there does not stand up.

The prosecution are scorned by the suggestion that she led him on that walk.

Louise Smith murder trial updates as jury told to put 'strong emotions' aside

 

[Harchmare]

6 minutes ago
‘Must have done something’
After a short break, Mr Langdon is telling jurors that Mays has ‘no previous criminal record’ and that from time to time ‘because he was a bit odd, a bit stupid, that he must have done something’.

He said it was for that reason, Mays said, that he told two detectives he last saw Louise in Billy Lawn Avenue. Mays previously told jurors he lied as he ‘didn’t want to get into trouble’.

Louise Smith trial: Live updates as Shane Mays jury told to put aside emotions

 

[Sooty]

6 minutes ago
‘Must have done something’
After a short break, Mr Langdon is telling jurors that Mays has ‘no previous criminal record’ and that from time to time ‘because he was a bit odd, a bit stupid, that he must have done something’.

He said it was for that reason, Mays said, that he told two detectives he last saw Louise in Billy Lawn Avenue. Mays previously told jurors he lied as he ‘didn’t want to get into trouble’.

Louise Smith trial: Live updates as Shane Mays jury told to put aside emotions

It’s desperate isn’t it?

He thought he’d be blamed for something he didn’t do so he tried to deceive - except he’s admitted that he did do it

smh

EDIT makes me think that there will be other things he has avoided being found responsible for, that may come out after this trial ..... MOO

 

[Skigh]

Think we might be pushed for a verdict today.
Think after the defence finishes, court will end and resume tomorrow.

 

[Harchmare]

1 minute ago
Mays was a ‘follower’
Mays was a follower and followed Louise to Havant Thicket, Mr Langdon says, and tells jurors they can reject the prosecution case that he lured Louise there with cannabis,

Mr Langdon says: ‘Can you ladies and gentlemen, knowing everything you know about him, exclude the possibility from your minds that he wasn’t just angry but that he lost his temper so completely with such ferocity with such appalling consequences without at any point thinking about what he was doing? And what he intended by it?’

He adds: ‘It was rage certainly, was it focussed?’

He concludes by saying the case has been ‘harrowing’ for all and adds: ‘Louise was completely blameless. The blame for her death rests with him (Mays). But please, ladies and gentlemen, don’t convict him of murder unless the evidence, and only the evidence, drives you there.'

Louise Smith trial: Live updates as Shane Mays jury told to put aside emotions

 

[Harchmare]

58 seconds ago
Court breaks
Mrs Justice May has sent the jury home for the day. The judge tells jurors she will sum up for an hour tomorrow from 11am, and then they will retire to consider their verdict.

Louise Smith trial: Live updates as Shane Mays jury told to put aside emotions

 

[Sooty]

Thank you so much for all the updates !