Youth killed blind aunt

Press, 4 February 1982, Page 8

Youth killed blind aunt

NZPA London Sarah Simpson, aged 78, who was blind, was murdered by a teen-age relative because of his fatal fascination for gaming machines and Space Invaders, New-castle-upon-Tyne Crown Court has been told. Mark Cougle battered and stabbed his great-greataunt to death for the sake of $46. He had spent his wages on electronic games at an

i amusement arcade and , needed cash to pay board to - his parents, the Court heard, s He was ordered to be detained at the Queen’s plea- ; sure after admitting the ■ murder of Miss Simpson at i her home in May. Mr Robin Stewart, Q.C., I for the prosecution, said: t “This is a horrifying case in which a young man attacked i his great-great aunt, battered i her unconscious with a

poker, used a knife to stab her to death through the heart, and then cut her throat.” He said Miss Simpson’s skull was fractured by five blows from the poker, which broke in two. She died from one of five stab wounds through the heart, and suffered another eight in the chest. Cougle, aged 18, a trainee chef, gambled away the $54

wages he received from a youth opportunities programme soon after being paid, the Court was told. He was said to have told the police: “I went to an arcade and spent all my money playing the machines. I was thinking of some way to get money and I thought of my Aunt Sally.” After the killing Cougle ransacked the house for the $46 he needed, and ran off.