Brutal killer spun lies and deflected blame
KILLER Shane Mays’ merciless brutality in murdering his wife’s niece is only matched in its horror by the varying ‘pack of lies’ he spun in the aftermath.
Mays has learning disabilities, a personality disorder and an IQ of just 63. He needed a break every 40 minutes while giving evidence at Winchester Crown Court. He played Xbox - Fortnite, Call of Duty, Need for Speed - for nine hours a day.
Prosecutor James Newton-Price QC said Mays was ‘crafty’ and capable of deliberately lying to police to try and throw them off the scent as Louise lay dead in Havant Thicket. Giving evidence at his trial, he both admitted lying and denied it. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied killing Louise at all.
It wasn’t possible for him to lie, he suggested, as his memory had vanished.
He claimed he searched Waterlooville, Rowlands Castle, Hayling Island, Leigh Park, and Langstone for Louise. He was asked why? To find Louise or her body? Mays, who admits having a temper, said: ‘To find Louise because I had no memory of what I’d done.’
It was only in Bristol jail in June, having been arrested on May 27, that he said he remembered ‘everything’. But still he denied defiling and burning her body. Mays told his family he took Louise to Emsworth skate park. He told police he said goodbye to her on Billy Lawn Avenue.
Did he lie? No, he just didn’t remember. Why did he give different versions of when he last saw Louise? Did he have ‘false memories?’ Yes, he said.
Despite admitting manslaughter, he told jurors repeatedly: ‘I did not kill Louise.’
In the words of prosecutor James Newton-Price QC, he ‘simply cannot face’ what he did.