Jilted ex-boyfriend found guilty of Shirley grandmother's murder (From Your Local Guardian)

Jilted ex-boyfriend found guilty of Shirley grandmother's murder

10:19am Saturday 4th February 2012 in Top Stories By Hannah Williamson

A jilted ex-boyfriend who claimed voices in his head told him to stab his former partner to death has been found guilty of her murder.

Clifford Mills of Morrish Road, Brixton, was found guilty of killing grandmother Lorna Smith, after the jury took just 90 minutes to reject his plea to manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

The 45-year-old was killed after being invited to Mills' house to help him with some paperwork.

Her body was found in his flat on February 2 last year, with a plastic bag over her head and the Oasis song Stop All the Clocks playing on repeat.

She had been stabbed in the neck and a post mortem gave the cause of death as multiple injuries.

Last week the Old Bailey heard the pair, who had been in a relationship for four-years, split up in 2006 but had remained on friendly terms.

But when Miss Smith, who lived in Hewitt Close, Shirley, started a new relationship in October 2010, Mills became jealous and angry.

He set up a bogus Facebook account in the name of Charlie Manning and bombarded his ex with messages.

It soon became obvious that Manning was actually Mills and Miss Smith subsequently stopped all contact with Mills and Charlie Manning in the weeks before her death.

The court heard on the day of the murder Miss Smith arrived at Mills' address at around 3pm.

She had decided to help him with his paperwork after a previous meeting in January 2011 had appeared to go off without any problems.

At 3.20pm Mills left his address and spent the day travelling around London with two bags packed with his belongings.

At 1am the following morning, he handed himself in to St Thomas' Hospital telling staff 'Stan' had killed Miss Smith.

He said: "You need to call the police, Lorna's dead. Stan's killed her, Stan hates her, he killed her."

When asked who Stan was Mills replied "Stan is in my head."

Detective Inspector John Finch from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said: "Mills' defence was that he had a split personality and that it was 'Stan' who told him to kill Lorna, thankfully the jury saw through his lies and he will be facing a considerable amount of time in prison.

"Mills was a jealous and controlling man and killed Lorna through sheer anger at her starting a new relationship. I hope his conviction can bring some small comfort to Lorna's family."

Mills will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Monday.