Serial killer obsessive ‘giggled’ after stabbing her boyfriend to death, court hears

A woman obsessed with serial killers “giggled” as she admitted to a friend she had murdered her boyfriend.

Shaye Groves, who had framed pictures of Peter Sutcliffe and Jeffrey Dahmer on her wall, was convicted on Friday of murdering Frankie Fitzgerald in a crazed knife attack while he slept in her bed.

Groves flew into a rage and stabbed the 25-year-old 22 times after seeing he had messaged a teenager.

When Mr Fitzgerald died of “catastrophic” blood loss from his injuries, Groves then proceeded to make a “false alibi” for herself, inspired by tips from true crime documentaries to avoid getting caught.

Winchester Crown Court heard the mother of one tried to “cover her a---” by messaging her friend Vikki Baitup, saying Mr Fitzgerald had left her address after the incident on July 17 last year - while his dead body lay wrapped in a duvet on bin bags in her room.

She claimed Mr Fitzgerald had “walked out” on her and it was “over” between them.

She then video-called Ms Baitup “giggling” and “admitted” the killing, saying Mr Fitzgerald had been “suicidal anyway” and that “it was alright, they’ll just assume he has gone off and committed suicide”.

A pathologist’s report revealed Mr Fitzgerald was stabbed 17 times to the front of the chest, twice to other chest areas and three times to the neck - resulting in his death after “multiple perforations of heart and lungs” and “catastrophic blood loss”.

During the trial, jurors heard that as well as posters of killers such as Rose West and Ted Bundy, Groves had a coffin-shaped bookcase and four “decorative” knives - with depictions of film villains Chuckie, Jigsaw and Pennywise on - which she and Mr Fitzgerald used for “knife play” in the bedroom.

Prosecutor Steven Perian KC said: “The defendant had many gangster books, like Charles Bronson and has serial killer pictures in frames on her wall and watches murder documentaries.

“The Crown says by reading about and watching these she was familiar with: a crime scene, how to create a false narrative and how to create a false alibi.”

Giving evidence, Groves said she thought the serial killer posters looked “pretty cool” and had attacked Mr Fitzgerald because she thought he was going to “strangle me to death” after she saw he had been messaging a teenager and he attacked her.

Addressing Groves’ claims of self-defence, Mr Perian said: “If the killing was in self-defence, why go about setting such an elaborate false alibi for yourself? Why didn’t she call the police immediately? Why did she clean up the crime scene? Why did she move the body?

“It was a cunning ploy - nothing was affecting her mind at that time.”

On Friday, a jury found Groves guilty of murder after deliberating for nearly 18 hours at the end of a five-week trial.

Wearing a denim jacket with a large pentagram emblazoned on the back, and with tattoos visible on her face, Groves smiled as she was taken down to the cells after the unanimous verdict.

The judge thanked jurors for their dedication during a “long and difficult case”, before giving them the option to be excluded from jury service for the next eight years.

Groves, of Havant, Hants, will be sentenced next week.