GUILTY UK - Dawn Walker, 52, newly married, Lightcliffe, Halifax 31st October 2021

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Homicide. An "Unlawful" Killing?
AcbMurders said:
Dawn Walker death: Man accepts 'unlawfully killing' wife Is it possible to kill someone “lawfully”? :confused:
Click to expand...
@AcbMurders
Yes, may seem redundant but there are lawful killings. By common law and by later England homicide statute, one of the elements the Crown (prosecutor) must prove for murder is --- the death was caused unlawfully, that is, "without lawful justification or excuse."

A defendant (def atty) may present evidence to (try to) establish a complete defence** or a partial defence*** for the defendant's actions.

In this case, per The Telegraph today, defence counsel Abigail Langford, told the court: “The defendant accepts killing the deceased. The issue in the case will be that he didn’t intend to kill her or cause her really serious harm....
”Miss Langford said that Nutt had agreed to be assessed by a psychiatrist because of the circumstances and background to the case."****
IOW def atty is claiming a complete or partial defense on grounds of insanity or diminished responsibility. If successful, he may be acquitted of murder or found guilty of lesser offense like voluntary manslaughter w a shorter sentence. my2ct.

Welcoming clarification or correction, esp'ly from our wonderful English legal professionals.:):)

Side note, UK Parliament abolished capital punishment in 1965.***** some US states have not and they still execute the condemned. The persons who inject lethal poison or flip the electric chair switch are carrying out lawful homicides.
___________________________________
* "Murder is defined, at common law rather than by statute, as the unlawful killing of a reasonable person in being under the King or Queen's peace with malice aforethought express or implied."
^ Murder in English law - Wikipedia
.
** Complete defences
"....the M'Naghten Rules on the insanity defence... If any of the general defences such as self-defence apply, an accused will be acquitted of murder. he was charged with murder but found guilty of manslaughter)....
"The defences of duress and necessity are not available to a person charged with murder...."
^ ibid wiki ref.
.
*** Partial defences
The following partial defences reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter:
Loss of control, under sections 54 and 55 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.
Diminished responsibility (Homicide Act 1957, section 2 – as amended)
Suicide pact, under section 4 of the Homicide Act 1957
"If a partial defence is successful, it will allow the sitting judge full discretion as to the sentence given to the offender; these can range from a conditional discharge to a life sentence...." sbm dbm
^ ibid wiki ref.
.
**** Man admits killing Dawn Walker whose body was found in a suitcase
.
***** Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 - Wikipedia
 
al66pine said:
Homicide. An "Unlawful" Killing?
@AcbMurders
Yes, may seem redundant but there are lawful killings. By common law and by later England homicide statute, one of the elements the Crown (prosecutor) must prove for murder is --- the death was caused unlawfully, that is, "without lawful justification or excuse."

A defendant (def atty) may present evidence to (try to) establish a complete defence** or a partial defence*** for the defendant's actions.

In this case, per The Telegraph today, defence counsel Abigail Langford, told the court: “The defendant accepts killing the deceased. The issue in the case will be that he didn’t intend to kill her or cause her really serious harm....
”Miss Langford said that Nutt had agreed to be assessed by a psychiatrist because of the circumstances and background to the case."****
IOW def atty is claiming a complete or partial defense on grounds of insanity or diminished responsibility. If successful, he may be acquitted of murder or found guilty of lesser offense like voluntary manslaughter w a shorter sentence. my2ct.

Welcoming clarification or correction, esp'ly from our wonderful English legal professionals.:):)

Side note, UK Parliament abolished capital punishment in 1965.***** some US states have not and they still execute the condemned. The persons who inject lethal poison or flip the electric chair switch are carrying out lawful homicides.
___________________________________
* "Murder is defined, at common law rather than by statute, as the unlawful killing of a reasonable person in being under the King or Queen's peace with malice aforethought express or implied."
^ Murder in English law - Wikipedia
.
** Complete defences
"....the M'Naghten Rules on the insanity defence... If any of the general defences such as self-defence apply, an accused will be acquitted of murder. he was charged with murder but found guilty of manslaughter)....
"The defences of duress and necessity are not available to a person charged with murder...."
^ ibid wiki ref.
.
*** Partial defences
The following partial defences reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter:
Loss of control, under sections 54 and 55 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.
Diminished responsibility (Homicide Act 1957, section 2 – as amended)
Suicide pact, under section 4 of the Homicide Act 1957
"If a partial defence is successful, it will allow the sitting judge full discretion as to the sentence given to the offender; these can range from a conditional discharge to a life sentence...." sbm dbm
^ ibid wiki ref.
.
**** Man admits killing Dawn Walker whose body was found in a suitcase
.
***** Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 - Wikipedia
Click to expand...
Thank you for the clarification. If “he didn’t intend to kill her or cause her really serious harm....”, then why did he put her body in a suitcase and throw it somewhere instead of calling an ambulance after realising he’d harmed her?
We probably won’t know until the trial.
 
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A Killer's Thinking?
AcbMurders said:
Thank you for the clarification. If “he didn’t intend to kill her or cause her really serious harm....”, then why did he put her body in a suitcase and throw it somewhere instead of calling an ambulance after realising he’d harmed her?
We probably won’t know until the trial.
Click to expand...
@AcbMurders bbm Agree w you, we won't likely know specifics until trial.

I imagine he'll claim something along these lines:
Did not intend to kill her or cause serious harm.
Concedes he injured her (as his atty said at hearing).
Afterward, to cool down, he took a walk or drive, came back to apologize.
Found her dead (tho unintended) so no use calling ambulance.
Grief stricken, did not know what to do.
Put her in suitcase & dropped it off somewhere.
(A brilliant idea??? IDK, maybe to him.)

Can def. atty can present evd to support ^ this? If so, and along w sufficient evd from psychiatric assessment, could he be acquitted of murder? If judge or jury is convinced, possibly. Or w def evd of "loss of control" or "diminished responsibility" (see partial defence footnote in my post above), maybe manslaughter?

Again welcoming comment or correction, esp'ly from our legal professionals. Just thinking at keyboard. my2ct
 
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www.bbc.co.uk

Dawn Walker death: Husband killed wife after wedding, court told

A jury is told Thomas Nutt killed Dawn Walker, from Halifax, then stuffed her body into a suitcase.
www.bbc.co.uk

A husband killed his wife shortly after their wedding and stuffed her body into a suitcase, a court has been told.
The body of Dawn Walker, 52, from Halifax, was discovered in a field in Lightcliffe on 31 October 2021.
Ms Walker, a grandmother, had not been seen since the night of her wedding which took place four days earlier, a jury at Bradford Crown Court heard.
Ms Walker's husband, Thomas Nutt, 45, has admitted her manslaughter but he has denied murder.
The jury heard that Mr Nutt had phoned police to report his new wife was missing on 31 October and that he appeared to start a search.
Prosecutor Alistair MacDonald QC told the jury the defendant "knew perfectly well her body was lying dead in a cupboard at the marital home".
Mr MacDonald said: "He knew she was there because he had killed her and put her body there before stuffing it into a suitcase, breaking bones in order to achieve that objective, before wheeling that suitcase to a place at which he dumped her body."
The court was shown CCTV footage of Mr Nutt wheeling a large suitcase out of the back of his house and into nearby bushes just as a police officer arrived at his front door to discuss the missing person report.
The jury was told Mr Nutt later handed himself in to a police station and told officers he and Ms Walker had been on a two-day caravan honeymoon, staying in a lay-by in Skegness.
The prosecutor said the defendant had told police: "We came back and she has got bipolar and is depressed, said she wanted to get divorced.
"She put me in jail before, said I had tried raping and assaulting her. Said she was going to do it again.
"She started screaming and I have hit her in the face and put my arm round her neck."

'Ghastly charade'​

The jury heard Mr Nutt admitted the manslaughter of his wife on the basis that "he did not intend to cause her really serious harm at the time at which he killed her".
But the prosecution said he was guilty of murder and that he killed Ms Walker before going to Skegness by himself, leaving her body in the house.
Mr MacDonald said Mr Nutt returned to act out the "ghastly charade" of telling Ms Walker's daughter she was missing and carrying out a search.
The court also saw CCTV footage of the defendant and Ms Walker arriving at the Prince Albert pub in Brighouse in West Yorkshire for a reception after their wedding at Brighouse Register Office.
Mr MacDonald said witnesses in the trial would describe how Mr Nutt and Ms Walker had been together for a number of years, although accounts of how long differed, and they had a "troubled" relationship.
The trial continues.
 
www.bbc.co.uk

Dawn Walker: Wife killer a 'Jekyll and Hyde character' court told

A jury is told Thomas Nutt, who killed Dawn Walker, was a scary 'Jekyll and Hyde character'.
www.bbc.co.uk

A woman who was killed and stuffed into a suitcase by her new husband had told his ex partner that he "scared the hell out of her", a jury has heard.
The body of Dawn Walker, 52, from Halifax, was discovered in bushes in Lightcliffe, on 31 October 2021.
She had not been seen since her wedding to Thomas Nutt four days earlier. He admits manslaughter but denies murder.
Bradford Crown Court was told that Mr Nutt's previous partner described him as a "Jekyll and Hyde character".
Prosecutor Alistair MacDonald QC told the jury that Kimberley Allcock, who was in a relationship with Nutt for 10 years, had tried to warn Ms Walker about him.
Going through Ms Allcock's account, the prosecutor said: "He could be very loving and pleasant but when he lost his temper, he would go mad."
Mr MacDonald told the court Ms Allcock had said: "When that happened, he would become so focussed on his anger that nothing would get through to him and nothing would calm him down."

Mr MacDonald said Ms Allcock had alleged a series of violent attacks Mr Nutt had made on her and how she said he was convicted of assaulting her in 2015.
He added: "Ms Allcock advised Dawn to be careful and Dawn responded the following day by saying that the defendant scared the hell out of her."
Prosecutors say Mr Nutt killed Ms Walker within hours of their wedding, storing her body in a cupboard before breaking bones to fold it into a suitcase.
The jury heard that Mr Nutt had phoned police to report his new wife was missing on 31 October and that he appeared to start a search.
The court has seen CCTV footage of Mr Nutt wheeling a large suitcase out of the back of the couple's West Yorkshire home and into nearby bushes, just as police arrived at his front door to discuss the missing person report.
The jury heard Mr Nutt later handed himself into police, telling officers his new wife had come at him "violently screaming" after they returned from a two-day, caravan honeymoon in a lay-by near Skegness.
But the prosecution said Mr Nutt went to Skegness alone, having killed his wife, leaving her body in the house.
Mr MacDonald said the defendant told police he had put his arm round Ms Walker's neck when she came running at him on 30 October.
He added that, according to Mr Nutt's account: "It all happened very quickly and her body went light on him and she fell down and may have struck her head on the concrete floor.
"He said that he had not strangled her in anger, he had done so in an attempt to restrain her."
But the prosecutor told jurors: "He knew that she was dead, he knew full well where Dawn's body was and that he had hit her forcefully to the face and throttled her to death."
The trial continues.
 
Tortoise said:
A much more detailed report here, of the opening of the trial.

Yorkshire killer shoved wife's body in suitcase then decorated for Halloween
Click to expand...
From the link:

While Nutt was out, the neighbour's partner had gone to check on the suitcase after another had noticed Nutt with it earlier. Mr MacDonald said: "That set in train a whole series of people who went to the area in which the suitcase had been deposited and realised, eventually, that there was a body in it. They do not appear to have informed the police immediately about the discovery but eventually, [the neighbour], did ring the police to report it. It would seem that the suitcase had been there for about two hours before the call was made."

The court heard that after he had arrived back home, Nutt made the same joke and the man who went with him was taken aside by his partner who told him what they had discovered. The man went to check the suitcase himself and Dawn's body was found and the police called.

Well done to the neighbours for checking on the suitcase, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to why they didn't ring the police immediately. I guess it doesn't matter now.
 
14:30KEY EVENT

Thomas Nutt found GUILTY of murder​

Thomas Nutt has been found guilty of the murder of Dawn Walker.
He is currently due to be sentenced on August 19.

www.examinerlive.co.uk

Thomas Nutt found guilty of murdering his wife

Thomas Nutt has been standing trial accused of murdering his newlywed wife Dawn Walker
www.examinerlive.co.uk www.examinerlive.co.uk

Don't think anyone will be surprised by the verdict.
 
Legally Bland said:
14:30KEY EVENT

Thomas Nutt found GUILTY of murder​

Thomas Nutt has been found guilty of the murder of Dawn Walker.
He is currently due to be sentenced on August 19.

www.examinerlive.co.uk

Thomas Nutt found guilty of murdering his wife

Thomas Nutt has been standing trial accused of murdering his newlywed wife Dawn Walker
www.examinerlive.co.uk www.examinerlive.co.uk

Don't think anyone will be surprised by the verdict.
Click to expand...
Jeez, I read that as NOT guilty for a split second.

No, not surprising in the slightest. Will be interesting to see more on his past abusive behaviour.
 
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