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FRIENDS THAT KILL

After twisted madness of Sadie Hartley’s murderers we look at how pals become killers

Sarah Williams and Katrina Walsh's crime is best explained by the phrase ‘folie à deux’ — literally a madness shared by two

THE savage murder of Sadie Hartley sends shivers down the spine.

Sarah Williams, with the help of accomplice Katrina Walsh, used a 500,000 volt stun gun to paralyse her “love rival” victim before stabbing her 40 times, in a manner characterised by the trial judge as showing “demonic savagery”.

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Warped ... killers Sarah Williams and Katrina Walsh have been found guilty of Ms Hartley's murder

The two were found guilty of Ms Hartley’s murder and sentenced on Wednesday, leaving many wondering about the behaviours that drove them to commit such a grotesque act.

Their crime can be best explained by a number of criminological and psychological processes often classified under the phrase ‘folie à deux’ — literally a madness shared by two.

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Innocent Sadie Hartley, 60, was stabbed to death after answering the door to her Lancashire homeCredit: Tim Stewart

This phrase has been employed by criminologists in the past to explain the relationships and behaviours of killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, Fred and Rose West and more recently Joanne Dennehy and Gary Stretch.

In this case, however, the folie à deux is not between a dominant man and a subservient woman — as in Brady and Hindley and the Wests — or even a dominant woman and a subservient man as in the case of Dennehy and Stretch.

It’s between two women, locked in a bizarre, twisted and extreme friendship.

But what is it about the folie à deux that facilitates murder?

Think of it as an intense relationship between someone with a strong personality who can mould the weaker to accept totally their view of the world.

Their acceptance of the dominant partner’s beliefs normalises behaviour which is anything but.

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Preston Crown Court ... Sarah Williams and Katrina Walsh handed life sentences after seven-week court caseCredit: Alamy

So, in this case, the older Walsh, the ­subservient partner, does not control the actions of her younger friend, but instead encourages them.

It is no surprise that Walsh kept a diary of their 18-month plan to kill Ms Hartley, which provides details of their strategy to commit the “perfect murder”.

What’s also interesting about Walsh’s diary is the fantasy that this would be a “perfect murder” — even though the diary itself would leave a trail that the police found easy to follow.

This is a feature of the delusional beliefs that always underlie a folie à deux.

'What is it about the folie à deux that facilitates murder?'

We can detect these delusional beliefs and fantasies in what we know about the history of Williams, who claimed as a child that she had been abducted.

Mania is often the underlying reason why some individuals have inflated self-esteem, which we sometimes call “grandiosity”, or when they engage in flights of fancy or undertake sexual adventures which are risky and inappropriate.

This latter feature of mania applies to Williams, which we can clearly see in her reputation as a “bunny boiler” and obsessional pursuit of Ian Johnston.

It is also apparent in the letter she wrote to Ms Hartley in which she boasted “the sex is unbelievably fantastic”.

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The appalling crime took place at Sadie’s Lancashire home while her partner Johnston was out of the countryCredit: Lancashire police

She also suggests Ms Hartley had tried to “trap” Johnston through her financial success, whereas in reality the only person trapping Johnston — who despite his pleadings does not come out of this well — is Williams herself.

The biggest question in relation to the folie à deux is: Would Williams have murdered Ms Hartley if she and Walsh had not formed their intense friendship?

On balance, the answer to that ­question is “No, she would not”.

'How awful that a toxic friendship was forged, and that Sadie Hartley paid with her life'

A folie à deux creates a world that is unique and special to the two individuals involved.

While a true friend would encourage us to exercise restraint, with a folie à deux anything and everything seems possible, even murder.

What a tragedy, then, that these two oddballs found each other.

How awful that a toxic friendship was forged, and that Sadie Hartley paid with her life.

— David Wilson is Professor of Criminology at Birmingham City University.

 

Angela Wrightson murder

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Eerie ... 'separately they could be quite sweet girls but together they were devils'

IN December 2014 two teenagers – known later in court as Girl A and Girl B – tortured and murdered loner Angela filming the attack on their phones.

The younger girl, aged 13, who was said to be the dominant one, called her 14-year-old friend her “partner in crime” and said: “We will be with each other through thick and thin.”

They were convicted of Angela’s murder and jailed for a minimum of 15 years. A neighbour of the girls, from ­Hartlepool, Co Durham, said: “Separately they could be quite sweet girls but together they were devils.”

 

The Peterborough murders

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Gary Stretch & Joanna Dennehy bragged they were 'like Bonnie & Clyde'

JOANNA DENNEHY stabbed three men through the heart and attempted to kill two more in a murderous spree in March 2013.

Her victims’ bodies were found dumped in Cambridgeshire ditches after she was helped by friend Gary Stretch, who she was said to have “cast a spell over”.

Dennehy, 31, bragged that the pair were “like Bonnie and Clyde” during the murderous rampage.

Stretch, 47, was found guilty of attempted murder and jailed for life, while Dennehy was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that she never be freed.

 

Kayleigh Haywood murder

Kayleigh Haywood as sexual predator Luke Harlow who groomed the murdered teenager on Facebook has been found guilty at Nottingham Crown Court of holding her captive at his home. composite
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Horrific ... Kayleigh tried to flee Luke Harlow, centre, and Stephen Beadman, right, but she was chased and beaten to deathCredit: PA:Press Association

FORMER bar worker Luke Harlow spent weeks grooming 15-year-old ­Kayleigh online.

After luring her to his flat in Ibstock, Leics, in November last year he got her drunk and abused her before inviting over his neighbour, Stephen Beadman.

Kayleigh, of nearby Measham, tried to flee but Beadman, 29, chased her, raped her and beat her to death.

Landscape gardener Beadman was convicted of murder and jailed for a minimum 35 years.

Harlow, 28, was convicted of sexually touching, falsely imprisoning and grooming Kayleigh and jailed for 12 years.

 

Kevin Davies death

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Nightmare murder ... Kevin was beaten, burned and fed potato peelings until he starved to death

FOR four months in 2006 epileptic Kevin Davies was held prisoner in a garden shed in the Forest of Dean, Gloucs, by David Lehane, his girlfriend Amanda Baggus and their friend Scott Andrews.

Kevin, who also had learning difficulties, was beaten, burned and fed potato peelings until he starved to death. But the three escaped a murder charge as epilepsy may have contributed to his death.

Instead they were convicted of false imprisonment and assault. Lehane, 36, and 26-year-old Baggus, left, were each jailed for ten years and Andrews, 28, for nine.

 

Simon Everitt murder

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Doused in petrol and set alight ... Jonathan Clarke and Jimi-Lee Stewart are said to have re-enacted spoof horror film Severance

THE badly burned body of 17-year-old Simon was found in woodland in Mautby, Norfolk.

The student had been tied to a tree, doused in petrol and set alight before his body was partially buried in a ditch.

Norwich Crown Court was told his death had centred on “sexual jealousies”.

Jonathan Clarke, 20, from Telford, Shrops, left, was jailed for 27 years, Jimi-Lee Stewart, 25, of, Great Yarmouth, centre, got 22 years and Maria Chandler, 40, also of Great ­Yarmouth, got 17 years for his murder.

The 2008 killing was said to be a re- enactment of spoof horror film Severance.

 

Jordan Watson murder

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 Sinister selfie ... threesome put behind bars for stabbing love rival Jordan, right, in a cemetery last year

GEORGE THOMSON, 19, was obsessed with Jordan’s 14-year-old girlfriend and told his friends he would “kill anyone for her”.

When he stabbed 14-year-old love rival Jordan to death in a cemetery in Carlisle, Cumbria, in June last year, he had posed for a selfie with pals Brahnn Finley, 19, and Daniel Johnston, 20.

Thomson and Finley were jailed for life, with minimum terms of 27 and 14 years respectively.

Johnston, convicted of ­manslaughter, was sentenced to ten years.

The friends said later they were at the crime scene to “lend support”.

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