Laughing ‘Killer’ claims ‘teddy bear told him to stab his dad-of-three neighbour to death’
A LAUGHING alleged killer claimed his teddy bear told him to fatally stab his dad-of-three neighbour, a court heard. Can Arslan, 52, told police he heard a voice telling him to kill Matthew Boorman, 43, and only later attributed it to his childhood cuddly toy. He stabbed Mr Boorman 27 times on his front lawn […]
A LAUGHING alleged killer claimed his teddy bear told him to fatally stab his dad-of-three neighbour, a court heard.
Can Arslan, 52, told police he heard a voice telling him to kill Matthew Boorman, 43, and only later attributed it to his childhood cuddly toy.
He stabbed Mr Boorman 27 times on his front lawn in Walton Cardiff, Gloucestershire, last October, before forcing his way into neighbour Peter Marden’s home to knife him eight times.
But forensic psychologist Dr John Sandford told Bristol crown court he is sceptical over claims of voices, and said Arslan had a personality disorder and not a mental illness.
And he described the killings as purposeful, deliberate acts with a set goal rather than a frenzied attack.
He said: “With forensic psychology you have to have a degree of scepticism.
“When you get a voice on its own you are always very sceptical, but when you get a voice on its own after a serious offence you are even more sceptical.”
Dr Sandford said that someone with personality disorder may hold fixed beliefs that are not true, but not in the way someone with a mental disorder may hold paranoid delusions.
Disturbing footage showed Arslan laughing as he told police “I warned you” when officers pinned him down after he killed his neighbour.
More video showed the moment he slashed a knife at neighbours in an attempt to carry out a massacre of his neighbours.
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Dr Sandford said he does not believe Arslan’s claims of not remembering the killing, adding that selective amnesia is a disputed psychiatric phenomenon.
He added: “There is nothing to suggest that this man is mentally ill or disordered in some way.
“He is doing a series of purposeful acts that are goal directed. His goal is to kill Mr Boorman, and an attempt to kill his other neighbour.
“It is quite clear how he is going about that. He is quite controlled in the way he is stabbing. It is not frenzied. He is stabbing him slowly and deliberately in the neck.”
Arslan had subjected his neighbours to years of verbal abuse and threats, and was on the point of being evicted from his property when he launched his attack on them.
He has admitted the attempted murder of Mr Marsden, and causing grievous bodily harm to Sarah Boorman, Mr Boorman’s wife, whom he sliced in the leg when she tried to pull him off her husband.
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Arslan also admits a charge of affray and is now on trial at Bristol Crown Court where he denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
The court heard Arslan had a “grandiose” and narcissistic view of himself, claiming to have wealthy relatives, have gangsters in his family and to have killed 61 people during his military service.