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Prosecution shreds “adjustment disorder” defense in case of teenage sweethearts who ‘had sex and watched Twilight’ after ‘stabbing mum and daughter in their throats as they slept’

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><h6><strong>Elizabeth Edwards&comma; and daughter Katie Edwards<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h4><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;140101&semi;">A boy and girl&comma; both 14&comma;described as a &&num;8216&semi;ticking time bomb&&num;8217&semi; are accused of stabbing mum Elizabeth Edwards&comma; and daughter Katie in the throat as they slept so they would not scream<&sol;span><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h4><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;140101&semi;">The teenage pair  &&num;8216&semi;had sex and watched Twilight&&num;8217&semi; after &&num;8216&semi;slaughtering mother and daughter in their sleep&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;span><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h4><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;140101&semi;">Elizabeth Edwards&comma; 49&comma; who was found dead along with her daughter Katie&comma; 13 in their Lincolnshire&comma; UK home<&sol;span><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;140101&semi;">The boy&comma; now 15-years-old&comma; admits two counts of murder&comma; the girl&comma; also now 15&comma; admits to manslaughter but denies murdering Liz Edwards and her daughter Katie<&sol;span><br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-81956" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;elizabeth-edwards1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"elizabeth-edwards1" width&equals;"615" height&equals;"409" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Elizabeth Edwards&comma; who was found dead along with her daughter Katie<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>The Nottingham Crown Court&comma; UK court heard that a 14-year-old boy and his girlfriend&comma; also 14 &&num;8211&semi; who cannot be named for legal reasons &&num;8211&semi; stabbed a mother and daughter in the throat as they slept so they would not scream&comma; watched Twilight and had sex moments after murdering the home owners&comma; a court has heard&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;After slaughtering their victims&comma; the murderous pair then ate tea cakes and ice cream in the victim&&num;8217&semi;s home while watching vampire movie Twilight before they had sex in bed&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Elizabeth Edwards&comma; 49&comma; and her youngest daughter Katie&comma; 13&comma; were found dead in their beds at their home in Spalding&comma; Lincolnshire&comma; on April 15 this year&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The who suspects cannot be named for legal reasons&comma; are teenage sweethearts described as being like &&num;8220&semi;a time bomb waiting to go off&&num;8221&semi; after they became &&num;8220&semi;inseparable&&num;8221&semi; in the weeks before the killings&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The boy&comma; now 15-years-old&comma; has become one of the youngest ever double murderers after admitting two counts of murder at Nottingham Crown Court&period; The girlfriend&comma; now 15 as well  on the other hand&comma; has admitted manslaughter but denies murdering Ms Edwards and her daughter&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;On the third day of her trial a jury heard how the young couple carried out their plan &&num;8220&semi;to the letter&&num;8221&semi; before they had sex together&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;How the girl was &&num;8220&semi;excited&&num;8221&semi; at the prospect of murdering Ms Edwards&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;She told police &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I’d felt like murdering for quite a while” after she and her boyfriend killed the mother and daughter&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;She said she and her boyfriend had &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;a grudge” against Elizabeth Edwards&comma; and daughter Katie&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-81958" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;katie-edwards1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Katie Edwards1&period;jpg" width&equals;"615" height&equals;"615" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><strong>Katie Edwards&comma; 13&comma; was found dead along with her mother Elizabeth Edwards<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>Presenting a case for mitigation for the female suspect&comma;  defense witness and Child psychiatrist&comma; Dr Indranit Chakrabarti&comma; said that the girl&&num;8217&semi;s adjustment disorder prevented her from forming a &&num;8220&semi;rational judgement&&num;8221&semi; and having the ability to plan&&num;8221&semi;&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;She was thinking under the influence of a recognized medical condition&&num;8221&semi;&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;She was unable to make any rational judgement and could not plan&comma; these are symptoms of the adjustment disorder&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Prosecutor Peter Joyce during cross went after the defense argument&comma; stating that the female suspect&&num;8217&semi;s ability to plan the heinous crime in detail and ensure that every one around her implemented the plan in order&comma; as scheduled&comma; gave a lie to the argument that she was handicapped in making rational decisions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-82055" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;mary-cottingham-daughter-of-liz-edwards1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"NINTCHDBPICT000273635816" width&equals;"724" height&equals;"961" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><strong>Mary Cottingham&comma; daughter of Liz Edwards and eldest sister to Katie Edwards&comma; arrives at Nottingham Crown Court <&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-82054" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;peter-edwards-father-of-katie-edwards&period;jpg" alt&equals;"NINTCHDBPICT000273638141" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"640" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><strong>Peter Edwards&comma; father of Katie Edwards&comma; arrives at Nottingham Crown Court <&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>He asked Dr Chakrabarti in the witness box&colon; &&num;8220&semi;She was thinking clearly enough to unwrap from the backpack the shirt with four knives&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;When &lbrack;the boy&rsqb; goes into the mother&&num;8217&semi;s room she sees he&&num;8217&semi;s deviated from the plan because she whispers &&num;8216&semi;take your shoes off&&num;8217&semi;&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;This is a girl who is thinking about what she has planned and what she is doing&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;When &lbrack;he&rsqb; goes in to kill the mother&comma; she is there and hears it&period; She goes in and sees part of it&period; She was the one in control&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;They planned to have a bath afterwards&comma; from the inevitable blood after the killings&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;The plan was clear and the plan was to kill two people&period; And the plan was carried out to the letter&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;They talked about the stabbing of each through the voice box so they wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t scream&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;I suggest if you are going to stab two people to kill them and one is in a room next to the other&comma; it is rational&comma; clear&comma; thinking to plan for the first one not being able to scream&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Dr&period; Chakrabarti replied&colon; &&num;8220&semi;It is logical yes&comma; but I would suggest it is not rational thinking&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;You are focusing on one aspect of the disorder&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Peter Joyce QC said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;She felt excited about the prospect of killing&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s right&comma; isn&&num;8217&semi;t it&quest;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;She was excited at the thought of killing and looked forward to it&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Dr Chakrabarti said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Yes&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr Joyce added&colon; &&num;8220&semi;She planned first to take a bath&period; She planned to watch Twilight&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;She planned to take the contraceptive pill&period; She planned to have sex&comma; which they did&comma; after the killings&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;They planned to get the drink in&period; They were able to cope&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Dr Chakrabarti gave a different interpretation to her coping skills&colon; &&num;8220&semi;I disagree&comma; she was unable to cope because of her mental condition&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;Her condition meant she was not able to comprehend because of the stress that she was under&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-81959" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;edwards-murder-scene1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Edwards murder scene1&period;jpg" width&equals;"615" height&equals;"410" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><strong>House in Spalding&comma; Lincolnshire&comma; where the bodies of Elizabeth Edwards and her daughter Katie were found<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>When pressed on a definition of what is rational by Mr Joyce&comma; the child psychiatrist responded&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Killing anybody is not a rational judgement in my opinion&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;In this case she lost self control&period; I think right from the moment she developed the disorder&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr Joyce said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;No remorse&comma; having sex&comma; getting the drink in&comma; watching Twilight &&num;8211&semi; how does this all fit in with your adjustment disorder&quest;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;The plan ruins your theory of loss of self-control&comma; doesn&&num;8217&semi;t it&quest;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;You know that Dr Phillip Joseph in his report doesn&&num;8217&semi;t agree with you that she was suffering from adjustment disorder at the time of the killing&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Dr&period; Chakrabarti said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Yes&comma; I disagree with that&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The court heard that someone who knew the two killers said they were &&num;8220&semi;a time bomb waiting to go off&&num;8221&semi; on February 24 &&num;8211&semi; just seven weeks before the murders&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr Joyce said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;&lbrack;They&rsqb; became inseparable&period; After she became inseparable from &lbrack;him&rsqb; it&&num;8217&semi;s clear someone who knew them thought it was disastrous&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;A &&num;8216&semi;time bomb&&num;8217&semi;&period; That bomb went off in April&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The psychiatrist replied&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Yes&comma; that&&num;8217&semi;s what I was trying to build up &&num;8211&semi; a series of stressful events&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr Joyce said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Have you ever known anyone suffering from this to plan a killing&quest;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Dr&period; Chakrabarti said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;No&comma; in outbursts but not plan&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;But violence is quite common in young people&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The trial continues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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