A homeless man, staying with a 57-year-old Clacton grandmother, allegedly punched her unconscious, tied her up, tortured her with a scalpel, stabbed her to death and then tried to burn her body and put it in a wheelie bin.
Scott Hilling, 25, stripped Kathleen Griffin naked and washed her body before trying to dispose of it by burning it with lighter fuel, a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court was told.
However, he was said to have failed to get her into a wheelie bin and eventually moved the body from the living room of the flat in Old Road to her bed and covered it with a duvet.
But that was not before he had allegedly confessed to a friend that he had killed Ms Griffin and shown him her body lying on the living room carpet, it was alleged.
Hilling, of no fixed address, pleads not guilty to murder on December 17 last year but has admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
The prosecution, however, does not accept that plea and is continuing with the murder prosecution.
Opening the case to the jury of eight men and four women, prosecutor Peter Gair said Ms Griffin, known as Kathy, was struck so hard in the face that she suffered brain damage.
She was tied up by her wrists and stabbed 13 or 14 times in her neck, chest, abdomen and back. She died from stab wounds.
The “murder weapon”, an 11cm long serrated kitchen knife with both her and Hilling’s DNA on, was found broken the next day on the roof of the Clacton and District Occupational Workshop which was next door to Ms Griffin’s flat said Mr Gair.
There was also a scalpel – “the torture device” – which it was claimed was linked to superficial wounds on the victim’s body. And another knife from the victim’s flat was found in the workshop car park.
Hilling’s discarded jeans which had blood stains on them matching Ms Griffin’s DNA were found in a bin near the flat, along with a blood-stained sheet and a can of lighter fuel.
Hilling’s clothes, seized on arrest, showed the victim’s blood on a jacket sleeve and on his trainers, the jury was told. Ms Griffin’s mobile phone was discovered in a nearby drain.
Hilling was arrested near the seafront on the evening of 18 December after police issued an appeal via social media. He told two men that he had “killed a woman by stabbing her 12-14 times” and he was the man wanted by police.
He refused to answer police questions but the court was told he had said: “I am in for murder and I feel so normal about it.”
Setting the background, the prosecutor said Ms Griffin was described as a kind hearted lady who was generous despite her own limited means. A regular taxi driver who knew her, John Leeks, felt that others “took advantage of her”. She allowed people to stay with her and had told him that they would steal from her.
Ms Griffin knew Hilling through his former girlfriend, the late Elaine Brown, who was a close friend of Ms Griffin.
She reported to police in February 2014 that Hilling had stolen from her. She made a similar complaint in June 2015 and also alleged he had punched and kicked her when she refused to let him stay. Hilling was not convicted in respect of those matters.
Around last September she allowed Hilling to stay at her one-bedroom flat when he became homeless and was sleeping rough, “saying she felt bad for him”.
The last time Ms Griffin was seen alive was about 2pm on 17 December, the court heard.
At 5.39pm that day Hilling was caught on CCTV visiting his friend Malachi Wilks’ flat in Edith Road, a short walk away from Old Road. He returned twice more before his friend was in. Mr Wilks later told police that Hilling was “wide-eyed and buzzing”.
“Hilling told him that he had been staying with Kat and that he had killed her. He gave Mr Wilks some details. He said he had tied Kathy up, had threatened to stab her with a torturer. He had stabbed her around 14 times to the belly, jugular, chest and back,” said the prosecutor. A “troubled” Mr Wilks reported what he knew to police at about 10.30am the next day, the jury heard.
The prosecutor called it a brutal attack. He said Ms Griffin was punched with such force that she was rendered partially unconscious. She was restrained and then knives and a scalpel were used “to torture” her.
The trial continues.
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