Man who killed girlfriend in drug daze is cleared of murder
A MAN who stabbed his girlfriend more than 30 times after eating cannabis was cleared of murder because he did not know “what was real and what was not”.
Jake Notman attacked and drove over Lauren Bloomer, a 25-year-old university student, at their home in Tamworth, Stafford Crown Court was told.
Notman, 28, a car factory worker, admitted manslaughter part-way through his trial. He entered his guilty plea after prosecutors accepted psychiatric evidence – including analysis of a 17-minute phone recording made by the victim during the killing – that he was divorced from reality and could not have formed the intent required for murder after eating a cannabis brownie.
The court was told that Ms Bloomer “recorded her own murder” on a phone after seeking advice online about the “bad weed trip”.
Deborah Gould, for the prosecution, said she had used her phone to record what was happening. “It shows the defendant as he began to attack Lauren, at first with his bare hands,” she said. “She was just trying to care for him.”
Nine minutes into the recording Ms Bloomer was heard saying “Please help me” to Notman’s aunt on a second phone. He was seen by neighbours as he drove over her body. Mrs Justice May said that Notman had killed Ms Bloomer in “the most unexpected and frightful way”. She accepted that Notman, who had no previous convictions, had shown concern and remorse. He claimed that he had an “extreme florid psychiatric episode” and had lost touch with reality.
She jailed him for eight years and eight months yesterday.
Mark Paul, of the CPS said expert advice meant there was no longer a realistic chance of conviction for the original charge of murder, and that Notman accepted responsibility for the unlawful killing of Lauren Bloomer by entering a guilty plea to manslaughter.