Man stabbed to death girlfriend after ‘psychotic’ reaction to cannabis brownie, court told
Lauren Bloomer ‘recorded her own murder’ on mobile phone as she was stabbed more than 30 times
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A man was recorded on a mobile phone as he repeatedly stabbed, strangled, and ran over his girlfriend during a psychotic episode after eating a cannabis brownie, a court has heard.
University student Lauren Bloomer, 25, “recorded her own murder” as she was stabbed more than 30 times after seeking advice on the internet about the “bad weed trip” suffered by Jack Notman, Stafford Crown Court was told.
Mr Notman, 27, denies murdering Ms Bloomer at their home in Bingley Avenue, Tamworth, Staffordshire, in the early hours of 20 November last year.
Opening the case on Wednesday at Stafford Crown Court, prosecutor Deborah Gould told jurors Ms Bloomer had used her phone to record what was happening “like something out of the movie Scream.”
Describing what could be seen and heard on the near-17-minute recording, which began when the couple were in a bedroom, Ms Gould told the court: “The audio captured the moments leading up to, including and after the murder.”
“It shows the defendant as he began to attack Lauren Bloomer, at first with his bare hands. She was just trying to care for him in this state of being disordered through cannabis,” Ms Gould said. “At the start of the recording you will hear her laughing and the defendant accusing her of laughing at him.”
The court heard that Notman became aggressive nine minutes into the recording, a minute before Lauren is heard saying “please help me” to his aunt in a call on a second phone.
Ms Gould added: “Something no doubt in the defendant’s behaviour prompted Lauren to start recording on that mobile phone.
During the recording, the court was told, Notman could be heard shouting “I will never f*****g see you again.”
The crown’s barrister added: “At 10 minutes and 49 seconds in the recording, Lauren stops screaming. The defendant is then heard shouting ‘I will never f*****g see you again’.”
Mr Notman was then heard saying “I am going to make sure”, before the sound of a revving engine is heard.
A thud was then recorded by the victim’s phone, which the Ms Gould says was the sound of Notman’s Ford Kuga being driven over Ms Bloomer. The defendant, who worked for Jaguar Land Rover at its Solihull site, was seen by neighbours as he ran over his partner’s body, and took no steps to help her before heading back into their house, it was alleged.
He is then said to have dialled 999 at 1.32am, telling the operator he had been told “I have killed my girlfriend”.
Mr Notman offered no comment in five police interviews, instead providing a statement suggesting the cannabis brownie – the first he had ever consumed – had something in it other than the drug.
Telling the court three psychiatrists had assessed Mr Notman’s “disordered” behaviour, Ms Gould said it was believed he had suffered an adverse reaction.
Ms Gould told jurors that the defendant’s adverse reaction “does not provide a defence in law.” She added the defendant must have intended to kill Ms Bloomer because he beat her, strangled her and sought out a knife.
Jurors heard psychiatrists in the case agreed Mr Notman was experiencing a psychotic episode. Ms Gould said Mr Notman has claimed he believed he was dead and that in order to come back to life he had to kill his partner.
In conclusion to her opening speech, Ms Gould accused Mr Notman of intending to kill or seriously harm Ms Bloomer and “disordered intention” was a result of the “voluntary consumption of cannabis”.
Defence barrister Andrew Fisher QC made a brief address to the jury at the start of the trial, saying Mr Notman had suffered an “extreme florid psychiatric episode in the course of which he totally lost touch with reality and became wholly delusional”.
The trial continues.