A former soldier in the British army is on trial for the murder of a married couple last fall. A 33-year-old shop assistant and a 36-year-old teacher were victims of the brutal act, according to Independent.

The man forced his way into the couple’s home near Taunton in Somerset in South West England on the night of November 21 last year. In a frenzied attack, he stabbed them both six times with the ceremonial dagger he gave him when he left the British Army in 2017.

After the fatal crime, the man called the police and told them what he had done. When officers arrived at the scene, the couple’s children were still sleeping upstairs.

There must be a parking conflict

The defendant had been involved in a long-term conflict with a partner over a local parking lot.

The 35-year-old confessed last Thursday to the murder. But he still pleaded not guilty, because he admitted to being mentally insane at the time of the crime.

Just ten days before the murder, the former soldier had made several verbal threats against the woman outside the couple’s home.

The statement was captured by the family’s doorbell camera. Among other things, the man is said to have referred to the woman as a “damn push”.

Breaking into the house

The woman who died is said to have told a colleague who testified at the trial on Wednesday last week.

– He knew he wanted to kill him if he said or did anything to him, he knew he was ex-military, the colleague told the judge and jury.

The witness also stated that the woman who died wanted to move away from the defendant.

The jury was shown clips from surveillance cameras filming the couple’s backyard. Here the defendant is seen climbing over the fence and entering through the back door.

Seconds later, the woman can be heard screaming in terror, with the accused screaming “die, bitch, die”.

That’s sane

A psychiatrist concluded at trial that the defendant did not suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during his service in the army between 2002 and 2017.

Psychiatrists nevertheless found that she had moderate depressive symptoms, but nothing showed that it impaired her capacity for rational judgment or exercise self-control.

The defendant sat with his head down or his face hidden behind his hands in most of the prosecutor’s opening statements.

The trial continues this week.