Psychiatrists give evidence at Mr Gay UK murder trial

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

A court has heard evidence from two psychiatrists in the murder trial of Anthony Morley.

Mr Morely, who won the Mr Gay UK competition in 1993, stands accused of killing his boyfriend, Damian Oldfield, and attempting to eat some of his flesh.

Professor Nigel Eastman, a forensic psychiatrist, told the jury at Leeds Crown Court that Mr Morley could have suffered flashbacks to an alleged rape he suffered as a teenager, which may explain his motivation for the attack on Mr Oldfield.

Prof Eastman said that Mr Morely was likely to have been in a “dissociative state” during the alleged attack, which would back up Mr Morely’s claim that he has no memory of it taking place.

“There’s an assault, there are flashbacks and that makes dissociation likely during the killing,” Prof Eastman said.

Mr Morley’s defence say that he did kill Mr Oldfield, but due to severe distress at the time the attack could have been motivated by diminished responsibility and provocation.

Mr Morely claimed that he feared Mr Oldfield was about to rape him. He told the court on Monday how he and Mr Oldfield were watching a DVD in bed at the time:

“I remember feeling that he was on top of me doing what he was doing.

“I felt numb and out of control. I felt uncomfortable and betrayed.

“We had talked about the whole situation.

“I was not comfortable with having a sexual relationship when we had only just got to know each other.

“I can only say at some point Damian’s body had just become something I would deal with at work; a piece of meat.

“That’s the only thing I can think of. That was my daily task, preparing meat.”

The court also heard from another forensic psychiatrist, Dr Patrick Quinn, who also assessed Mr Morely.

Dr Quinn said that he did not think Mr Morely was suffering from any mental illness, and that Mr Morely had never mentioned any flashbacks during the two assessments they held.

Dr Quinn said Mr Morely had told him that he was raped when he was 17.

Dr Quinn said:

“Having read [Prof Eastman’s] report there was reference to flashbacks which was news to me.

“It troubled me because there was no reference when I examined Mr Morley on the first occasion to him having had or experiencing a flashback at the time of the allegation.”

The trial continues.

Comments (0)

MyPinkNews members are invited to comment on articles to discuss the content we publish, or debate issues more generally. Please familiarise yourself with our community guidelines to ensure that our community remains a safe and inclusive space for all.

Loading Comments