Ex knifed Ellie... then went back to school
A PREFECT walked out of school and stabbed his girlfriend to death after she dumped him – then went back to lessons.
Thomas Griffiths, 18, was jailed for life yesterday after a court heard how the body of Ellie Gould, 17, was found in a pool of blood in her own kitchen by her father.
Miss Gould was stabbed at least 13 times around the neck in the ‘frenzied’ attack, before Griffiths placed her hand on the knife’s handle in an attempt to suggest she had inflicted the wounds herself.
The killer, who played for Chippenham Rugby Club, attempted to clean up the murder scene before leaving in his mother’s car. He then returned to school as if nothing had happened.
Later that day, the killer sent his victim messages asking if she wanted to meet as well as ‘fake’ texts to Miss Gould’s friends, and posted on Snapchat in an attempt to cover his tracks.
Speaking after Griffiths was ordered to spend a minimum of 12-and-a-half years in prison, the victim’s mother, Carole Gould, 48, branded him a ‘danger to society, and women in particular’ and said he should never be released.
Her grandmother, Pat Gould, 72, described Griffiths as a ‘monster’ who deserved the death penalty. Griffiths had previously pleaded guilty to murder.
Miss Gould’s body was discovered at the family home in Calne, Wiltshire, by her father Matthew at around 3pm on May 3.
In a victim impact statement read out by prosecutor Richard Smith QC, Mr Gould, 40, described the scene as the most ‘ frightening, horrific and saddest’ sight he had ever witnessed. The statement continued: ‘The image of Ellie lying there on the floor has haunted me ever since. It fills my thoughts when trying to sleep and hijacks my mind when trying to go about my day.’
Miss Gould, who enjoyed spending time with her pony and was considering a career in the police, had known Griffiths since Year 7 at Hardenhuish School, Chippenham. Bristol Crown Court heard the couple had been going out since January. But the day before her death, Miss Gould told friends she had broken up with Griffiths because she found his attentions ‘suffocating’. In another message that night, she said Griffiths had not taken the break-up ‘well’.
On the day of the killing, Griffiths
– who was 17 at the time – was captured on CCTV riding a bus home from school early in the morning. He then hid in a wardrobe until his mother left.
Despite not having passed his driving test, he drove to Miss Gould’s home shortly before 11am, and was gone within an hour. When spotted by a neighbour, he said the scratches on his neck inflicted as Miss Gould fought for her life were the result of selfharming. The prosecutor said: ‘Griffiths became angry, perhaps by Ellie’s continued rejection of him, and he attacked her.’
Griffiths was arrested outside a
friend’s home at 6pm and ‘lied repeatedly’ to police, Mr Smith told the court.
In a letter read to the court by defence barrister Sasha Wass QC, Griffiths claimed to be ‘confused and angry’ over what he did, and expressed ‘heartfelt remorse’.
The defence barrister said Griffiths,
who had been made a prefect shortly before the murder, had suffered a number of ‘stressful events’, including his father’s cancer diagnosis, exam pressure and a series of illnesses suffered by his grandmother.
Sentencing, judge Mr Justice Garnham dismissed Griffiths’ claim that he had gone to the house to revise with Miss Gould, only for an argument to develop.
Noting that there was no evidence of revision folders in the kitchen, the judge told him: ‘What is clear is that at some point you ... started to throttle her.
‘She desperately tried to fight back, scratching at your neck. You did not have the sense, or the decency, to stop. Instead, you picked up a kitchen knife.
‘You then carried out the most appalling attack, repeatedly stabbing her to the face and neck. The pain and terror she must have suffered in her last moments, as your frenzied knife attack continued, is beyond imagining.’
Following the sentencing, Dan O’Neill of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘Ellie Gould split from Thomas Griffiths because she felt suffocated by his attention and it is chilling to think that her concerns became reality.
‘The evidence showed that he... stabbed her 13 times in the neck.
‘He committed an act of extreme violence, depriving Ellie, who was described as bubbly, kind and loving, of her future.’