UK
Brian Whitelock: Convicted murderer accused of killing and torturing neighbour
A convicted murderer is on trial accused of sexually assaulting, torturing and beating a woman to death.
Brian Whitelock, 57, attacked his neighbour Wendy Buckney, 71, in her own home during a sustained assault, a trial heard.
Swansea Crown Court was told the attack involved a kitchen knife, a broken table leg and wooden shelving.
The pensioner was found, bloodstained and naked, in the living room of the property in Clydach, near Swansea, on 23 August 2022.
The trial heard Whitelock was jailed for life in 2001 for murder and manslaughter and was released from prison in 2018.
Prosecuting, Christopher Rees KC told the court that Whitelock had a history of violence and that Ms Buckney “must have suffered greatly at the hands of this defendant”.
“You will also hear evidence of sexual assault upon her – whether this was done by the defendant before, during or after his attack upon her is impossible, forensically, to say,” he said.
Having been arrested at the scene, Mr Rees said the defendant “admitted murdering Ms Buckney”.
Whitelock initially told a neighbour, who then alerted police, that he had “killed Wendy”.
The defendant was kneeling on the front lawn and wiping dirt over his body.
He continued shouting: “I’ve killed her, there’s all fresh flesh hanging off her. She’s face down in there. I don’t know why I’ve done it. She’s been good to me.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
After his arrest, he told police he had “tried to clean her up, like, now I’m trying to help her, like, but it’s too f****** late, like”.
“It looks like I f****** tortured her, I have, like, I literally have. She was begging me to stop,” he added.
Later, when interviewed by police, he denied that he was the person responsible for Ms Buckney’s murder.
Mr Justice Griffiths told the jury Whitelock was not represented and would be defending himself during the trial.
Read more from Sky News:
Sara Sharif’s father tells court he takes ‘full responsibility’ for her death
Tributes after actor Timothy West dies aged 90
He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter by way of diminished responsibility but denies murder.
The trial continues.