Psychiatrist: murder accused Kieran Avery "in a trance" when attacking Colin Butler of High Wycombe
11:40am Saturday 21st November 2009 in
A 21-YEAR-OLD Wycombe man was in a “trance-like state” while beating a businessman to death outside his home, a psychiatrist told a court.
Kieran Avery has admitted the manslaughter of 49-year-old Colin Butler but denies murder.
Mr Butler was found in the front garden of his detached Marlow Road home, High Wycombe at about 1am on October 24 last year.
Unemployed Avery delivered 29 blows to the older man's head and neck, jurors heard.
Homosexual Mr Butler got sexual gratification from violence, the court previously heard, see links, bottom of story.
Psychiatrist Dr Michael Alcock yesterday told Reading Crown Court he believed Avery was suffering from an acute stress reaction during the killing – a condition arising when a person is under “severe stress”.
Yet another psychiatrist said this “disconnect” was unlikely – and a prosecutor said Avery killed Butler because he was “angry” with his sexual advances.
The pair had been in a “friendship of sorts” for eight months prior to the killing and had fought when Mr Butler agreed to pay Avery, the court previously heard.
Dr Alcock spoke after Avery described his relationship with Mr Butler and the night of the killing.
He said he met Mr Butler through a friend. Mr Butler later took him to a pub and bought him drugs, jurors heard and they began to see each other more regularly and eventually “daily”.
When asked why he kept meeting Avery said “just for the drugs really”, said to be worth £400 a week. When asked why he took part in fight with him he said “just for the money”.
He said he did not know Mr Butler was gay until a fight at the Red Lion Hotel in Henley-on-Thames.
The court heard Avery said Mr Butler “tried it on by touching my arse and so I lost it”. He was arrested and Mr Butler fled.
Avery told the court “he told me he was married with three kids” and was an entrepreneur in the diamond business.
On two previous occasions Mr Butler offered Avery up to £50 prize money if he beat him in a fight, where boxing gloves were worn, Avery told jurors on Thursday.
After one fight between the men Mr Butler accused Avery of stamping on his leg and said he needed private treatment, the court heard.
Avery said on Thursday: “He showed me an X-ray which looked real and said I owed him about £2,000.”
Mr Butler told Avery he “knew people in high places and if he wanted someone to be killed he could arrange that”, the court heard. Avery also said Mr Butler threatened him and his family.
On the night of the killing the pair had been drinking in the Roundabout pub in Bridge Street, High Wycombe before going to Mr Butler's home.
He said he wanted to leave and meet girlfriend Amanda Berry but Mr Butler was “constantly moaning about the money”.
Mr Butler asked Avery into the house but he refused and they started arguing, jurors heard.
Avery said: “I just wanted to get away from him and he was basically repeating himself about the money.
“I'm not sure why I asked it but I asked him if he'd ever raped someone....and he didn't deny it.”
Mr Butler then grabbed Avery's backside before the younger man punched him because he was “scared” and “disgusted”, jurors heard.
Avery said Mr Butler “basically got straight back up and said 'I swear I'm going to kill you'.
“He just did look like he was going to do something serious.”
His next memory is of dragging Mr Butler's body into the garden, the court heard. His jogging bottoms were around his ankles.
Avery said: “When I realised what I was doing I just let go straight away. I just panicked and ran off basically.
“I've been thinking about the whole incident for over a year now and it hasn't got any clearer.”
Dr Alcock said Avery was fearful for his life and described a “disconnect between the mind and body” during the killing.
He said: “Mr Avery believed he was going to be killed or raped and that resulted in Mr Avery doing something that's completely out of character.”
Dr Alcock added that he thought Butler was “fuelling” Avery's drug addiction and “grooming him for potential sexual activity”.
He said: “If Mr Butler had not been providing drugs then Mr Avery would have had nothing to do with him.
“He [Avery] came across to me as a person who was very emotionally immature and therefore a vulnerable person who could be manipulated.”
But another psychiatrist, Dr Philip Joseph said it was “highly unlikely” Avery was suffering from an acute stress disorder Amjad Malik, prosecuting, argued Avery did not have enough reason to be scared of Mr Butler and doubted whether he was in a “trance-like state”.
He said Avery's accounts were contradictory and said the attack was “patterned” and “ferocious”.
He said: “Kieran Avery was using such violence and force on that man that he was giving him the severest beating that you can possibly imagine.
“He [Avery] was the one that began the punches. He was the man who started hitting and he was the man who couldn't stop.
“His actions were just this – to attack Colin Butler, to attack him because he was angry with this man and he intended to kill him, you may think.”
Avery, who lived at the High Wycombe YMCA, had worked as a labourer and had taken drugs since the age of 13, the court heard.
In his closing statement Mr Malik urged jurors to consider the facts of the case “no matter how horrible and disgusting you find that man [Mr Butler].”
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The body was found outside Mr Butler's Marlow Road home
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