Convicted murderer on trial accused of torturing and killing neighbour

A convicted murderer sexually assaulted, tortured and beat a retired horsewoman to death, a court heard.

Brian Whitelock, 57, attacked neighbour Wendy Buckney, 71, with a kitchen knife, a broken table leg and wooden shelving during a sustained assault in her own home.

The bloodstained and naked pensioner was discovered in the living room of her home in Clydach, near Swansea, on August 23 2022.

Swansea Crown Court heard Whitelock had been jailed for life in 2001 for murder and manslaughter and released from prison in 2018.

He battered Nicholas Morgan to death with an axe handle and set fire to his body. Whitelock’s brother, Glen, who was asleep, died in the subsequent blaze.

Drug addiction

Christopher Rees KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Whitelock had a long-standing drug addiction and history of violence.

“Ms Buckney must have suffered greatly at the hands of this defendant before death – you will hear evidence of the multiple stab injuries, sharp force injuries and blunt force injuries inflicted upon her,” he said.

“You will also hear evidence of sexual assault upon her – whether this was done by the defendant before, during or after his attack upon her is impossible, forensically, to say.”

The jury was told Whitelock had gone to Ms Buckney’s flat fully clothed but, by the time he was seen hours later by a neighbour, he was wearing just his pants inside out and covered in blood.

“The defendant, upon arrest, admitted that he had not just murdered her, but ‘tortured’ her, with various objects,” Mr Rees said.

“Having been arrested at the scene, the defendant admitted murdering Ms Buckney.

“When he was then taken to be medically assessed before his police interview, his version changed and he told the police that he discovered Ms Buckney with these multiple, terrible and fatal injuries but, also, that she wanted to have sex with him.

“When he was ultimately, formally, interviewed by police in the presence of his solicitor, he completely changed his account.

“He denied that he was the person responsible for murdering Ms Buckney.

“He maintained that he discovered her and saw some shadowy figures outside her house so, therefore, it must have been someone else who killed her.

“Upon entering her flat, he told the police, that he simply found her dead or injured and tried to help her.”

Neighbour

The police were alerted by a neighbour, Jeffrey Llewellyn, after Whitelock told him: “I’ve killed Wendy.”

Whitelock, who was kneeling on the front lawn and wiping dirt over his body, continued shouting: “I’ve killed her, there’s all fresh flesh hanging off her. She’s face down in there. I don’t know why I’ve done it. She’s been good to me.”

He was arrested by police at the scene, and told officers: “I tried to clean her up, like, now I’m trying to help her, like, but it’s too f****** late, like.

“I definitely killed her, like, she was begging me to stop, like ,and I touched her then, she was stone cold … literally all chunks of flesh falling off her, I don’t deserve to be alive, like, I shouldn’t have been f****** alive, like.”

He added: “It looks like I f****** tortured her, I have, like, I literally have. She was begging me to stop.”

Whitelock, of Tanycoed Road, Clydach has pleaded guilty to manslaughter by way of diminished responsibility but denies murder.

Head injuries

Mr Rees explained that the defendant’s case is that he suffered head injuries on August 1 and August 16 and 17, which support his claim of diminished responsibility.

“The prosecution case is the defendant used a knife, table leg and shelving to inflict the most horrific injuries upon Ms Buckney,” he said.

“The prosecution say the ferocity and sustained nature of the attack go beyond demonstrating an intention to cause really serious bodily injury but demonstrate an intention to kill Ms Buckley.”

A consultant psychiatrist examined Whitelock and concluded he was mentally ill at the time of Ms Buckney’s death, but later produced a second report stating he was not suffering from an abnormality of mind and that his behaviour was caused by substance misuse.

At the start of the trial, Mr Justice Griffiths told the jury Whitelock is unrepresented and is defending himself.

The trial continues.