A call girl accused of murdering her Scottish sugar daddy lover for money in Eccles before taking selfies with his body told of her ‘deep shame’ today.
Kirsty Edmondson, 23, admitted stealing money and property from 47-year-old former history teacher Kenneth Chapman and also to conning his sister out cash following his death – but insisted she was not a ‘cold, callous killer.’
She and Christopher Sawyer, 36, are accused of killing Chapman with a lethal injection of heroin while he lay unconscious on his sofa.
At Manchester Crown Court, Edmondson told the jury: “I am deeply ashamed of what I have done before and after he died.
“I might not be sat here bawling but when I go back to that sweat box and realise everything that’s happened, believe me, I’m paying for it.
“I would never kill Kenneth Chapman. I wouldn’t kill anyone but I definitely wouldn’t kill him. I’m not that type of person. I have got no reason to want him dead. I didn’t do anything towards killing him. Christopher Sawyers did.”
Earlier in the trial, the court was told Edmondson had been having a fling with the victim who is originally of Cockburnspath, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, after he began using her services.
But it was alleged he was murdered after she and Sawyers discovered he was sitting on an £18,000 nest egg following the sale of his house.
During a rendezvous at Chapman’s flat in Eccles, near Salford, last December it is alleged he was injected with heroin and as he lay dead the pair used mobiles phones to take ‘trophy photos’ of themselves and had sex with each other in his bed.
The pair lived with Chapman’s corpse for up to a week during which they stole his TV and computer and raided his bank account in a string of online frauds, a jury was told.
They even texting the victim’s unwitting sister pretending to be Chapman asking if she could lend him £75. Later Sawyers – nicknamed Twinny – allegedly showed one of the photos to his friends saying: “Look at this. I will show you a photo of a corpse.”
Chapman’s body was eventually found on January 12 this year – 15 days after his death.
In her defence, Edmondson admitted she had stolen Chapman’s TV, games console and bank cards – but it was a time when he lay semi-conscious after being injected with the drug.
When asked about the selfies, she replied: “I don’t know the reason for taking it. I’m not a killer, it’s not how it looks. Twinny asked me if Ken had any family who could put money in. I said he had a sister and he told me to text asking so I did.”
She said she was petrified of Sawyers and he forced her to lie and cover up events until she eventually spoke to the police on January 14 – two days after Mr Chapman’s body was found.
“It was eating me up inside that Ken’s body had been found,” she said. “I told the police he had overdosed. Twinny kept getting it in my head that if I told the truth and he had done it then I would be going to prison for it with him.”
“My head was fucked, my life was fucked. My life was not normal before him (Sawyers). I had Ken and was doing what I do but it was my normality. I met him and my life went upside down.
“He killed the best person I knew in my life. I’ve had time to reflect in prison for the last four months. I know what he did and I was there and seen it.
“Twinny told me we were both going to prison if we didn’t stick together. I don’t know why I stuck by him, it was just a situation that got out of control.
“I felt like I couldn’t go nowhere because I had to make money to look after both of us. I could have gone to the police but I thought I would be doing myself harm. I thought I was going to prison for murder.
“If you are never in that situation, you don’t know what you will do. I was petrified of him.”
But Tony Cross QC prosecuting showed Edmondson one of her selfie pictures taken after Chapman’s death and said: “This is an example of how cold and callous you are – this is a photo taken on the evening you had killed Kenneth Chapman.
“You told your representative these photos were when you were smashed out of your face. Being off your head does not provide you with a defence.
“No-one forced the camera into your hands. Christopher Sawyers wasn’t threatening you. He didn’t arrange you in the sitting room. You were standing within touching distance of the corpse of Kenneth Chapman. This is a trophy photo.”
Edmondson and Sawyers deny murder. Sawyers also denies the manslaughter of former accountant Peter Clark, 60, who suffered a fatal heart attack after he was given heroin on July 5 2012.
The trial continues.
Story via Cavendish Press
