British man found guilty ofAustralian Amy Parsons' murder in London

The Age

By Henry Vaughan

November 20, 2019

London: A man who battered his Australian fiancee to death when she wanted to leave him because of his cross-dressing has been found guilty of murder in the UK.

Roderick Deakin-White, 38, repeatedly hit Amy Parsons, 35, over the head with a metal bar while she was showering in the flat they shared in Whitechapel, east London.

She suffered "horrific injuries" to her head, face and brain during the attack on April 25 before he left her bleeding to death on the floor.

Deakin-White denied murder but was found guilty by a jury on Tuesday. He faces a life sentence when he is sentenced on November 26.

The court heard Parsons, a personal assistant for a City company who was from Melbourne, became increasingly dissatisfied with the relationship, telling friends one bone of contention was Deakin-White's cross-dressing.

"She was unhappy about this and this was something he had often wanted to do when they were intimate," said prosecutor Gareth Patterson QC.

He told jurors Deakin-White became angry and jealous after Parsons began arelationship with her colleague James Saunders a few weeks before the killing.

The prosecutor said Deakin-White launched the attack after she told him she was leaving him. "Unwilling to accept that she was going to leave him, he used a metal bar to hit her repeatedly around the head while she was showering in the Docklands flat which they shared," Patterson said.

"By his blows with the bar he caused her horrific injuries and fractures to the head and face and brain."

She was left bleeding on the shower floor, and Deakin-White fled the flat before confessing to a friend, who persuaded him to hand himself in.

A post-mortem examination found she suffered major fractures to her head and face and died of a traumatic brain injury.

In interviews with police, Deakin-White admitted attacking her with a metal bar.

But denied murder, claiming it was an "accident". Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Darren Jones said: "Amy Parsons paid the ultimate price because of Deakin-White's controlling, selfish and violent nature.

"He relied on Amy's financial support and I believe he could not stand the factthat she was moving on and refused to be taken advantage of any more.

"Amy had become aware of what kind of person he was and was beginning to take steps to leave Deakin-White.

"These steps included a new relationship, free from Deakin-White's coercive and abusive behaviour.

"Because of this Deakin-White launched a vicious and brutal attack on Amy, without warning and in her own home, where she should have been safe and secure."