Betty Yates murder accused stabbed vicar to death
A drifter accused of killing a retired teacher in her home stabbed a vicar to death – before spending the night at the vicarage watching DVDs and drinking his beer while his body lay just yards away, a court heard.
Stephen Farrow stabbed the Rev John Suddards in the chest, shoulder and neck at his vicarage in Gloucestershire, and then carefully positioned a Bible, a painting of Jesus and a mirror around him before setting off party streamers over his body, a murder trial heard.
Mr Michael Fitton, prosecuting, said that a month earlier the 48-year-old beat Betty Yates, aged 77, with a walking stick and stabbed her in the neck while she lay unconscious at her Bewdley house.
Farrow used his bloodied hands to draw blinds and tidy up after the brutal attack on Mrs Yates, said Mr Fitton.
The Rev Suddards was found on February 14 lying on his back in the hallway of the vicarage at St Mary's Church in Thornbury.
A jury heard he was found with spectacles on his nose, a Bible on his chest opened at the letter of Jude and a picture of Jesus positioned so it could be seen by him in a mirror the killer had placed nearby.
Mr Fitton told Bristol Crown Court that DVDs with "homosexual connotations", a condom packet and "men's magazines showing male figures" had also been put near the body.
Farrow admits the manslaughter of the Rev Suddards but denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to a mental health disorder, the court heard.
He denies the murder of Mrs Yates and claims he was not even in the Bewdley area at the time of her death – but he admitted turning up at her house days earlier on December 30 last year.
Mr Fitton said that Farrow had "trawled" the Rev Suddards's vicarage "looking for items to suit his purpose".
The court was told that the next day Farrow drew the blinds and locked the door behind him as he left – as had been done in Bewdley. The trial continues.
