Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Killer dad at wit’s end over daughter’s anxiety
‘Cowardly act cut life short’
A father struggling to cope with his teenager daughter’s anxiety strangled her before walking into a police station and telling officers: “I couldn’t let her suffer any more.”
Former soldier Richard Kray killed 19-year-old Olivia at Westlands Caravan Park, off the A291 between Canterbury and Herne Bay.
He then attempted to strangle her mother, Damyantee “Sheila” Cowan, but she survived the attack after fighting him off.
Maidstone Crown Court heard details of events leading up to the tragedy on July 21 last year.
Prosecutor Simon Taylor said 64-year-old Kray had made efforts to help and care for his daughter, whose anxiety was so severe she could not leave home without him.
By March last year Kray was telling those treating Olivia he could not cope with her behaviour and as a result was signed off sick from work with exhaustion.
The court heard in April and May Olivia called the Kent Community Health Trust and police numerous times about the whereabouts of her father.
He told his sister Janice Wallace “it would be easier to kill the three of them” as he could not see any future.
Mr Taylor said it was presumably a reference to himself, Olivia and Ms Cowan.
On June 4 and 5, Olivia texted her father seven times, three of which said “help”.
She went to Canterbury police station and said her father was having a mental breakdown.
On July 15, as the family drove home from Bluewater, Kray, while being badgered by his daughter, said: “Let’s crash the car. Let’s all be killed together.”
After killing Olivia, Kray went to Ms Cowan’s home in Gordon Road, Herne Bay, while she was out.
When she arrived home, Kray told Ms Cowan Olivia was upstairs. As she went to go upstairs Kray grabbed her neck with both hands.
“Ms Cowan describes being frozen with panic,” he said. “She couldn’t breathe and genuinely thought the defendant was going to kill her.”
Ms Cowan eventually managed to struggle free and ran out of the back door and fled to the nearby police station.
While there, Kray walked in and declared: “You can arrest me. I’ve killed her.”
He added: “I came round to kill Sheila as well, but she was too strong for me and I couldn’t do it, and that’s the top and bottom of it.
“I’m just at my wit’s end with her and everything and my mental health problems.”
Kray then told how Olivia was lying dead in the caravan.
After his arrest, he replied: “I’m guilty. I couldn’t let her suffer any more. I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I’m at my wit’s end for months and months. I know it’s no excuse.”
Police and an ambulance went to the caravan park in the afternoon and found Olivia’s lifeless body on a bed. CPR was performed for 43 minutes but to no avail.
Judge Philip Statman said Kray worked with autistic children who had difficulties and it was not a case where Olivia failed to get treatment. He was keen for her to have therapy.
“I would not want it thought the medical services failed her in any way,” he said.
The judge said of the attack on Ms Cowan: “The real issue here is the sheer horror of being in your own home and someone who has been your partner strangling you in the manner she describes.”
Kray denied murdering Olivia and his guilty plea to manslaughter by diminished responsibility was accepted. He also admitted the attempted murder of Ms Cowan.
Judge Philip Statman made a “hybrid” order: Kray will go to prison for 10 years, minus the time spent being treated Olivia’s family said she was a “bright and beautiful young lady” who lost her life in “an atrocious and cowardly act”.
In a statement, they said: “Olivia was caring towards others and when you needed her help she would do the best she could for you. Olivia was a wonderful daughter, niece, cousin and best friend and we miss her dearly.
“We have no doubt in our minds that in time Olivia would have recovered from her health issues and would have had a great future ahead of her. Olivia was an intelligent woman and talented musician.
“She loved animals and would have had a thriving career in this area. We will never have the opportunity to see this as her life was cut too short in what can only be described as an atrocious and cowardly act.
“Her mother, who has lost her only daughter, has shown great strength and dignity throughout this whole ordeal.
“With the sentencing we just want to ensure that justice is done for Olivia and her mother and then for us as a family to rebuild the gap that Olivia’s passing has left in our lives.”
in a psychiatric hospital. He will serve half before being released on licence.
The judge described the case as unique, terrible and tragic.
“I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that she loved you and in return that you loved her,” he told Kray.
“I am sure that every single day whatever the sentence of this court, he will think of what he has done.”