Ellie Gould: the case for self-defence

Zoë Sharp

On May 3^rd 2019, the police were called to a home in Calne, Wiltshire. There they found Ellie Gould, a 17-year-old student, dead from multiple stab wounds. The knife used was still in her neck and her hand had been placed on the handle of the knife.

The police quickly arrested her ex-boyfriend, now revealed as Thomas Griffiths, then also 17 years old. In November, he was convicted at Bristol Crown Court of her murder and sentenced to serve a minimum of twelve and a half years.

The evidence apparently showed a ‘frenzied attack’ which included an attempt at strangulation and thirteen stab wounds. Ellie fought back, scratching Griffiths’ neck, but was overpowered. She was found dead by her father in the kitchen of the family home.

The pair attended the same secondary school and had known each other for around five years. They had been dating for three months, until Ellie broke up with Griffiths to concentrate on her exams. She had told friends that he had “not taken it well.”

On the morning of the murder, he walked out of school, drove to Ellie’s home and first strangled her, then stabbed her. He then tried to make it look as if the wounds were self-inflicted, and passed off the defence wounds Ellie had inflicted on himself as ‘self-harm’. He had also sent a series of fake messages to her phone and to friends, playing dumb about what had happened to her.

Until that point, Griffiths had been welcomed into the Gould home by Ellie's parents. He had celebrated her birthday with them and had frequently eaten meals with the family. They had no inkling that he was capable of such an act.

The reason I’m writing about this story now is that last week school friends of Ellie’s appeared on national radio and TV as part of their campaign for self-defence to be taught in schools. They are convinced that her life might have been saved if she’d known some basic skills to defend herself. 

I confess that whenever I hear of such a senseless crime as this, I wonder much the same thing. When I first started writing the Charlie Fox series of novels, Charlie is teaching self-defence classes, having herself been the victim of violent crime. As she tells one of her pupils in KILLER INSTINCT: “It takes remarkably little time to be strangled. You can’t afford to waste it.”

The throat is a highly vulnerable area. Relatively unprotected, usually not covered with heavy clothing, it’s more or less just a narrow tube that houses blood vessels to the brain as well as the main airway. Running down either side of the trachea are the vagus nerves. I go into a little bit of detail about these in HARD KNOCKS: ‘They control just about everything of importance in the body, from the heart and lungs to the abdominal organs. Hit the vagus nerves hard enough and your victim ceases to breathe, his heartbeat stutters, his nervous system crashes. And then he dies.’

In one-third of homicides by strangulation, the hyoid bone is fractured. This is a U-shaped bone in the front of the neck, to which the tongue is anchored. It sits between the lower jaw and the largest cartilage of the voice box, or larynx. Damage to the hyoid is often accompanied by damage to the cervical spine, larynx, pharynx (the area of the throat behind the mouth and nasal cavity) and possibly the lower jaw itself.

Given a choice—or possibly that should be if given no choice at all—I would always choose the throat as my first self-defence target. Doesn’t matter how big you are, or how covered in muscles, the throat is always vulnerable to a well-directed blow.

But if someone grabs you around the neck, there are a lot of ways to avoid being strangled. It fills me with both anger and sadness when I hear of tragedies such as Ellie Gould’s murder. A good self-defence instructor could have shown her a variety of techniques not only to escape such a hold but to put her attacker on the floor while she was at it.

A knife is a different matter. Go up against someone with a knife and you’re going to get cut, like it or not. It takes a different attitude—one you need to have decided upon in advance. But it can be done.

So, if those school friends of Ellie’s decide to set up a petition to have self-defence made part of the curriculum, I’d sign it. Would you?

This week’s Word of the Week is supervene, which means to follow something closely, either as a consequence or in contrast, while intervene means to come between persons or things.

Upcoming Events:

Newcastle Noir

May 1-3, Newcastle City Library, Newcastle upon Tyne.

CrimeFest

June 4-7, Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, Bristol.

Crime & Publishment 2019

Zoë Sharp

At one time, the only way couples under the age of twenty-one, who’d been denied permission by their parents to marry, could tie the knot was to elope over the border from England into Scotland. Gretna, located just into Scotland, became the famous place for such couples to marry. The Mill Forge at Kirkpatrick Fleming, just two miles from Gretna itself, has become a favourite among favourites.

Today, though, it has another claim to fame. Over this weekend (March 8-10) it hosted the seventh annual Crime & Publishment crime writing course. Much information, fun, and it seemed, pink gin, was had by all!

Crime & Publishment (which is a bit of an inspired name for it) is organised at the Mill Forge by crime thriller author Graham Smith, who’s written 13 books in the DI Harry Evans, the Jake Boulder, and the DC Beth Young series. Graham also taught Crime Writing 101, as well as The Road to Publication, and took part in the 1-2-1 Surgeries on Saturday afternoon.

This is the second time Graham has invited me to the event to talk to attendees, this time on Getting Your Fight Scenes Right, which I extended to include a bit of info on common gun errors and car chases as well.

Graham played my crash-test dummy for the practical demonstration of some of the self-defence techniques, which he did without complaint, bless him. So, armed with a rubber knife, an old table fork and a magic marker, I showed the groups how their characters could get away from nasty situations and generally defeat the bad guys. It was entertaining while, I hope, also providing useful information.

While I was teaching half the attendees, Caro Ramsay, who happens to be an osteopath as well as the author of nine crime thrillers, was teaching the other half the ins and outs of Breaking Bones for Fun.

The following day, Doug Johnstone, Scottish crime author whose tenth novel will be out in May, talked on Creating Everyman for Everyone. Also, literary agent, Mark Stanton, known universally as Stan, from The North Agency, talked on Perfecting Your Pitch. Prior to being at The North, Stan worked for Canongate Press and the Jenny Brown Literary Agency. He also took part in the 1-2-1 Surgeries on Saturday afternoon and did the pitch sessions on Sunday morning.

I had the opportunity to sit in on Stan’s session, which was very interesting. He said he reads as much of the sample as holds his interest, then reads the synopsis to make sure it doesn’t take a weird left turn halfway through the plot. He particularly mentioned From Dusk Till Dawn, which starts as a classic heist movie, then takes a sharp sideways turn into a vampire movie halfway through.

When it came to writing the synopsis, which varies in word length from one page to 3000 words, depending on the agent involved, he reckoned that it was better to go for the one-pager, as it would fit most occasions. All it has to do is lay out the main arc of the story, without sub-plots, not even the names of all the characters. The kind of synopsis The North Agency is looking for, Stan told us, is a one- or two-line breakdown of chapters and the bare bones of what happens next in the story. An agent is looking for peace of mind, he said, that what they’ve read is representative. And he would want to know the ending, or spoiler alert in bold, if it’s a big twist ending as with Agatha Christie’s THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD. And any sample of the book should be of the length the agency requests and must be the beginning of the novel, not bits from the middle.

Perhaps most surprisingly, Stan recommended brevity almost in the extreme for the covering letter or email, and provided some examples of what not to write unless amusing the agent is your intention.

As I write this blog, only the final pitch sessions with Stan on Sunday morning remain and then Crime & Publishment will be over for another year. With great camaraderie and good-humoured nights in the bar, it’s become a highlight of the calendar. Ten previous attendees have signed publishing contracts so far, often with the major houses. And although Graham tries to ring the changes with a lot of the instructors, there are some attendees who come back year after year. I can entirely understand why.

This week’s Word of the Week is opperchancity, which I had no idea was even a word until assured of that fact by Graham. It is a relatively new addition to the dictionary and is a cross between chance and opportunity, particularly meaning the kind of opportunity that happens once in a lifetime.

Upcoming Events

May 9-12

CRIMEFEST INTERNATIONAL CRIME FICTION CONVENTION—Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, Bristol

Friday, May 10, 13:40-14:30Contemporary Issues: Reflecting How We LiveCandy Denman, Paul Gitsham, Cara Hunter, Amanda Robson, Zoë Sharp (Participating Moderator)Saturday, May 11, 11:20-12:10Ten Year Stretch: The CrimeFest Short Story AnthologyPeter Guttridge, Caro Ramsay, Zoë Sharp, Michael Stanley (Stan Trollip), Kate Ellis (Participating Moderator)Sunday, May 12, 09:30-10:20The Indie AlternativeBeate Boeker, Adam Croft, Barry Faulkner, Lynn Florkiewicz, Zoë Sharp (Participating Moderator)

And, just in:

A question of Self Defence

The idea for this blog was sparked by Cara’s blog of last week.  The debate about self defence, the right to protect your property against threat/perceived threat has been raging on for a long time now so I thought you might be interested in this case.

The story, at first glance  is simple. At the age 35 Anthony Martin inherited a remote farmhouse from his uncle. In 1999 Martin ( then 55) shot dead an intruder. He claimed he had been burgled ten times before at a financial cost of over £6000. He had complained at length about the theft and the lack of police action so he armed himself with a pump action shotgun and on the night of 20^th August 1999 the inevitable happened.

                                           
                                                             Tony Martin

Brendon Fearon (29) and Fred Barras (16) broke into the property. Martin claims he woke up at the sound of a window being broken and discharged his birdshot loaded shotgun. He said he was shooting in the pitch dark and down the stairwell, the weapon was discharged three times, once when the intruders were on the stairwell and twice more as they tried to get out the window of a downstairs room. Both received gunshot wounds to the legs but Barras was also fatally shot in the back. He died at the scene.

So far it is tragic,  but deeper investigation suggests that something else might have been going on. 

 Fred Barras

The police are not sure that the farmhouse had been burgled so many times. Martin’s gun was illegal. He had had his licence revoked in 1994 after he caught a man scrumping for apples, chased him and shot a hole in the back of his car. Forensic tests show that Martin could not have been on the stairs shooting downwards, but that he was standing on the level in the doorway already downstairs when he fired the shots. The prosecution suggested he was lying in wait for the burglars and opened fire for retribution for previous break-ins at his house.

                                            
                                                  The farm, locally known as Bleak House

On 10 January 2000, Fearon and Darren Bark  ( the 33 year old getaway driver )admitted to conspiracy to burgle. Fearon was sentenced to 36 months in prison, and Bark to 30 months (with an additional 12 months arising from previous offences). Fearon was released on 10 August 2001.

Fred Barras, the dead youth, aged 16, had already a lengthy criminal record, arrested 29 times.

Then on 23rd August 1999, Martin was charged with the murder of Barras and the attempted murder of Fearon. I think it is fair to say there was a groundswell of public support for him at that time.
                                                        
                                                                        Fearon

Self defence in English law permits one person to kill another only if the person uses no more than "reasonable force". The jury has to decide whether or not an unreasonable amount of force was used. The jury can  return a manslaughter verdict if they think the accused "did not intend to kill or cause serious bodily harm". Which brings into question what Martin’s mind set actually was. If the intruders were already fleeing – that is not self defence. Martin was found Martin guilty of murder by a 10 to 2 majority and was sentenced to life, with a recommended minimum term to serve of 9 years.

He appealed and his appeal was considered in October 2001. They argued that Martin had fired in his own defence but that was rejected by the Appeal Court. They also submitted evidence that Martin was suffering from paranoid personality disorder and depression. He was paranoid about anyone intruding into his home. This submission was accepted by the Court of Appeal and the murder conviction was replaced by manslaughter (5 years) and the sentence for wounding Fearon was reduced from ten years to three years. These sentences were concurrent.

Then the story takes another twist. Martin was eligible for parole in January 2003 but the Parole Board rejected his application stating that Martin was "a very dangerous man" who may still believe his action had been right.

Martin appealed to the High Court but the decision was upheld. They feared that in the same situation he would do the same thing again. On 28 July 2003, Martin was released after serving three years of his five-year sentence, the maximum period for which he could be held following good behaviour.

And what of the intruders? In 2003, Fearon received, an estimated £5,000 of legal aid to sue Martin for loss of earnings due to the injuries he had sustained. Then he was photographed cycling and climbing with ease so the argument was that Fearon had been exaggerating his injuries.  While that case was pending, Fearon was recalled to jail after being charged with the theft of a vehicle while on probation on a conviction for dealing heroin.  Nice guy. Fearon later dropped the case when Martin agreed to drop a counter-claim. 

By now tens of thousands of pounds of public money had been spent on the case. Reports then appeared that a £60 000 bounty had been placed on Martin's head by Fearon and friends of  Barras. In October 2003, a tabloid paid Martin  £125,000 for an exclusive interview on his release from prison. The Press  Complaints commission ruled the payment was justified and in the public interest because Martin "had a unique insight into an issue of great public concern".

The bit that is unsettling is that on his release Martin appeared on the platform of  UKIP (the UK independence party) as the guest-of-honour. Martin said himself that he had attended meetings of the National Front in Norfolk, and later went on to endorse the British National Party.

Fearon and Barras were of Romany blood.

It does raise the question, does the perception of the threat vary with the prejudices of the 'victim'? And is that a defence?  One would hope not.

Caro GB 27th September 2013