Man admits he unlawfully killed student Bethany
A MAN has admitted unlawfully killing a student in Huddersfield town centre.
Paul Crowther, 35, appeared in a dock in Leeds Crown Court on Monday afternoon after being deemed fit to plead in relation to the death of 21-yearold Bethany Fields.
Miss Fields, who was from Bramley, was found with stab wounds on Fitzwilliam Street in Huddersfield town centre on September 12 last year.
Crowther, of Elm Way, Birstall, is charged with murder and manslaughter.
He had not entered pleas as doctors needed to carry out psychiatric assessments first.
Trial dates, including in March, had been set and vacated twice.
The court was told a second psychiatric report was served on the prosecution on Friday last week ahead of his second trial date yesterday.
Crowther, who is remanded in custody in Newton Lodge Fieldhead Hospital in Wakefield, appeared in court for a plea hearing yesterday instead.
He pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter.
Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp said the Crown Prosecution Service need two weeks to decide whether his pleas are acceptable.
A further hearing, which will either be another pre-trial management hearing or a sentencing hearing, was listed for August 21.
Members of Miss Fields’ family appeared in court for the hearing.
The family previously described her as ‘a beautiful, talented, ambitious, intelligent, kind, giving and loving daughter’ who had a bright future ahead of her.
They said she was studying environmental geography at university, was travelling to Iceland to study the effects of glacial melts on the environment and the Canary Islands to study volcanoes and worked with a charity.