WALKER MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO MANSLAUGHTER IN DOMESTIC BREAKDOWN
AN estranged husband today admitted killing his wife during a psychological breakdown.James Taylor, 42, of Winslaw Place, Walker, Newcastle, denied the murder of Michelle Taylor but pleaded guilty to her manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that the killing on June 25 this year was carried out when Mr Taylor was suffering "a disease and abnormality of mind".
Dr Adrian Berry, a consultant psychologist based in Wakefield, concluded in a report that the state of the defendant’s mental health substantially impaired his responsibility for the death.
The Honourable Mr Justice Wilkie was told that Mr Taylor was a regular cannabis user.
Adjourning the case until January for pre-sentence psychiatric reports the judge said: "I am delaying sentence today for the benefit of a report into your present mental state and future dangerousness." Dozens of Northumbria Police officers were involved in the search for a killer which spread across the city and Gateshead.
Three hours later police arrested Taylor in Chopwell Woods, Gateshead, in a distressed state.
It is understood he had made a number of frantic phone calls before he was found slumped in the woods.
Forensic experts later examined a phone box after sealing off Hookergate Lane, near Chopwell Woods.
Mrs Taylor, 38, was found at 10.10am and it is thought the murder weapon, a kitchen knife, was left at the scene.
The case is a tragic case of domestic homicide involving James Taylor, who is suffering from a mental health disorder at the time of the incident, which led to his manslaughter plea and the court proceedings to follow.
