University worker stabbed boss 15 times
A UNIVERSITY worker stabbed his boss 15 times and wrote “bully” across her forehead after becoming obsessed with her, a court heard.
David Browning left Jillian Howell lying covered in blood on the floor of her lounge after stabbing her repeatedly with a knife in the chest, neck and abdomen, Hove Crown Court heard on Monday.
He stayed in the house for “several hours” before dialling 999 at around 6am on October 26 last year to say he was standing outside a police station and had tried to kill himself. When he was approached by officers, he was found to have a gun and knife but was “calm, coherent and collected”.
When asked what happened, he said: “In a nutshell, I have killed my boss,” the court heard.
The 52-year-old, of Seaford, East Sussex, is accused of murdering the Samaritans volunteer, his superior in the University of Brighton payroll department, after he formed an “intense attachment” towards her and became “controlling and jealous”.
After contacting police, Browning directed officers to Ms Howell’s home in Brighton. They found her body inside with the word “bully” scrawled across her forehead, prosecutor Alan Gardner said.
The married father-of-two admits manslaughter by diminished responsibility and possession of a knife in a public place, claiming his actions were prompted by depression caused by the death of his father a year earlier. He denies murder.
The trial continues.