‘My son stabbed his neighbours to death in a parking row – he did it because of what happened in the army’
The mother of a former soldier jailed after fatally stabbing a couple in an apparently trivial dispute over parking has called for more mental health support for veterans.
Collin Reeves killed Jennifer and Stephen Chapple with the ceremonial knife he was gifted by the army when he left the services.
His mother Lynn Reeves believes the attack in Somerset in 2021 was triggered by PTSD from his time serving in Afghanistan.
He called 999 himself after vaulting a fence to launch the deadly attack on his neighbours.
In police interviews following his arrest he says he was ‘just doing his job’ and ‘it was just an operation’ in a confused state that appeared to suggest that he believed he was still on active duty.
Two psychiatrists also later said that Reeves ‘wasn’t mentally ill’ when he committed the crimes.
A jury at the time rejected a manslaughter plea and he was jailed for a life term of a minimum of 38 years in 2022 at Bristol Crown Court. This was later reduced to 35 years.
His mother urged the Ministry of Defence to bolster support for veterans of the forces in documentary Mums of Murderers.
Describing the terrible moment she was told her son, then aged 35, had attacked the couple she said his wife had called her in a panic.
Lynn said: ‘She was screaming ‘you’ve got to come quick, he says they are dead, he says he’s stabbed them and they are dead.’
When she first saw him following the killings she said: ‘He was still my Collin. He looked so drained and white and shocked. I just had to hug him, to hold him. I didn’t know what to do for him, I couldn’t do anything…’
‘I don’t think they should be given a piece of paper after active service – sign this tick the points. They won’t ask for help they are a soldier who has to keep their emotions in and deal with situations.’
She told documentary makers she believed he had been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and the MOD needed to step up its support for veterans like her son.
She said his commanding officer had been killed and a colleague disfigured. He himself had been tasked with guarding Taliban prisoners which had piled pressure on him.
She said: ‘He couldn’t sleep and he couldn’t stand loud noise. He had trauma and couldn’t release it.
‘I feel guilty that we should have seen how he was suffering. Some people are evil but Collin is not evil.
‘I don’t think they should be given a piece of paper after active service – sign this tick the points. They won’t ask for help they are a soldier who has to keep their emotions in and deal with situations.’
She called on the MOD to check up more on soldiers as they enter civilian life and the challenges the transition throws up for them.
She added: ‘They should be reassessed.
He was a trained killer, he had gone into army mode.’
On her own guilt she said that no matter what people blamed her for the actions of her son even though she attributes the killings to a mental health episode.
‘They blame you, they say it was the way he was brought up’ she said.
Following the trial, in 2023, the senior coroner for Somerset, Samantha Marsh, wrote to the MoD calling for urgent reconsideration on the gifting of ceremonial daggers, and commented that ‘poor mental health is not an uncommon feature of those serving in and/or leaving the army and adds further weight to my concerns about the appropriateness of such items (whether ceremonial or not) being issued in the first place’.
The MoD has so far declined to change its rules on gifting knives.
The MOD said in a statement to the documentary makers: ‘We are committed to the military being a safe and supportive environment for all and we ensure that effective mental healthcare support is available to everyone.
‘Veterans should be able to access the support they deserve and individuals can gain access to specialist medical care from the NHS through OP COURAGE in England. Veterans can also access specialist mental health services wherever they live in the UK.
‘The MOD provides serving personnel mandatory mental health training, a 24-hour helpline with stress management training after traumatic incidents, and continued access to mental health support after leaving service.’
*Mums of Murders is a video and podcast from best magazine.
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