London Man Committed 2nd Murder After Confessing to Killing Girlfriend, Jury Told

During police interview Lee Peacock said he wanted to kill four other people

An undated police mugshot of Lee Peacock, who is accused of murdering two people in central London in August 2021. (Metropolitan Police)

LONDON—A man committed a second murder after visiting his estranged father and confessing to having killed his girlfriend, a trial at the Old Bailey in London has been told.

Prosecutor Ed Brown, KC, told the jury Lee Peacock, 50, was tracked down to a houseboat on the Grand Union Canal in Greenford, west London, on Aug. 25, 2021, where he was overpowered by police.

After Peacock was arrested he told detectives he had planned to kill four other people, the jury heard.

Peacock denies murdering his girlfriend Sharon Pickles, 45, and an associate, Clinton Ashmore, 59, at their homes on the Lisson Grove estate, close to Marylebone station in central London in August 2021. Both died from neck injuries.

Opening the case for the prosecution on Tuesday, Brown said when police officers found Peacock on the houseboat they shouted, “Keep your hands out” and, “Put the knife down, put the knife down.”

But he had already stabbed himself with the knife.

A police officer patrolling the towpath close to where Lee Peacock was arrested, on a barge on the Grand Union Canal in Greenford, west London, on Aug. 25, 2021. (Chris Summers/The Epoch Times)

Brown said Peacock underwent surgery to save his life and repair the wound and was then taken to a police station, where he refused to be interviewed in the usual fashion.

Instead he was interviewed by detectives in the doorway of his cell.

Brown said Peacock—who had been released from prison for an unrelated matter in June 2021—said he killed Pickles after arguing with her about a drug dealer called Scuilla who, he suspected, she had been sleeping with in exchange for drugs while he was in jail.

Defendant Said He Killed Girlfriend After She Laughed at Him

The prosecutor said: “When he said he was going to kill Scuilla, Sharon started laughing at him, saying that he couldn’t kill him. It really upset him that she was laughing at him.”

Brown said Peacock sent a number of text messages to relatives on Aug. 18, 2021 in which he said he was in “serious trouble” and said, “My hand has been forced after what I did last night.”

In other text messages he said, “My time on this earth is very limited” and added: “After this conversation you will never hear from me again. I will never be released from prison.”

After killing Pickles, Peacock travelled to his parents’ home in northwest London, from whom he was estranged and had not seen for three years, said Brown.

“Whenever he was questioned more closely, all he would do was play with a kitten he had brought with him in a rucksack,” said Brown, who said Peacock went on to describe killing Pickles and drew a hand across his throat.

The prosecutor said his father tried to persuade him to give himself up and, after Peacock left, he called the police and told them what his son had said.

Peacock then phoned his father while police officers were at the house and one of them tried to persuade him to give himself up.

But Brown said that instead of surrendering to police, Peacock returned to the Lisson Grove area and murdered Ashmore.

Police tape seals off the towpath close to where Lee Peacock was arrested in Greenford, west London, on Aug. 25, 2021. (Chris Summers/The Epoch Times)

Accused Named 4 Others He Had Wanted to Kill

Brown said during the police interview Peacock said “he wished that he had finished the job” and named four people he wanted to kill—Scuilla, Marcia Jones, and two other people, identified as Dana and Frank Smiley, all of whom he said had taken advantage of Pickles.

The prosecutor said Peacock called Scuilla and Dana “black [expletives].”

Peacock told police he had planned to killed Jones but he said he saw her with a 12-year-old girl and he did not want to kill her in front of the child.

Peacock told police: “It’s just Clint, he’s unlucky … Marcia is very, very, very, very [expletive] lucky.”

Brown said the defendant told police: “I wanted Scuilla badly, I wanted Marcia badly, more I wanted Dana badly … they do not deserve to be on this earth, they are evil.”

Referring to the police interviews, Brown said: “What was not suggested by the defendant at any point, and will not be suggested on the defendant’s behalf here in this trial, is that he was in any way insane, or an automaton at the time, incapable of being mentally responsible for his actions, or in any way diminished in law in his intention or his responsibility for his actions on each occasion.”

The prosecutor said it would be “unrealistic” to accept the murders were acts of self-defence.

Brown added: “You will understand that some explanations for his actions do not amount to any kind of defence, explanations such as anger and revenge do not amount to any kind of defence to the crime of murder.”

The trial is expected to last two weeks.