Shaye Groves Wiki, Biography
Shaye Groves, 27, was convicted at Winchester crown court of slitting the throat of Frankie Fitzgerald, 25, before stabbing him 17 times in the chest at her home in Havant, Hampshire, in July last year after trying to portray herself as his victim.
The five-week trial heard that Groves had framed pictures of serial killers on her walls, collected books about gangsters, including the notorious prisoner Charles Bronson, and watched true crime documentaries. A serial killer-obsessed woman has been found guilty of the murder of her on-off boyfriend who she stabbed to death after using tips from true crime documentaries to plan her alibi.
Steven Perian KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Groves acted out of jealousy after she found that her victim had been messaging a 13-year-old girl on Facebook.
He said: “The killing of Frankie Fitzgerald is very likely to be a crime of passion driven by her jealousy.” Perian said Groves used her knowledge from true crime shows to portray herself to her friend Vicky Baitup as a victim of Fitzgerald’s sexual violence.
She sent the friend videos of the pair having sex edited to appear as rape but the prosecution say the original footage showed it was consensual sex. Perian added: “Where would the defendant have got the insight from to plan the details of the attack and to make it look like she was the victim of an assault?
“The defendant has many gangster books like Charles Bronson in her bookcase. She has serial killer pictures all in frames on her wall and she watches murder documentaries. “The crown say that the defendant – by reading about and watching murder documentaries – she was familiar with crime scenes, how to create a false narrative and how to set up a false alibi.
“She deliberately set up a false narrative of being abused by Frankie Fitzgerald, a false alibi she sent to Vicky Baitup and was cleaning the crime scene having watched these documentaries.” After conviction, the jury was told that Groves had been dealing cannabis. Judge Kerr adjourned the case for sentencing on Wednesday 22 February. He told the jurors: “It remains for me to thank you from the court for the dedication and work you have done on this case.”
During the trial, jurors heard ‘pagan’ Groves bought a Celtic dagger, later used to stab Mr Fitzgerald, 25, for her ‘rituals’ and that it ‘strengthened spiritual connections’.
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 Chucky, Jigsaw and Pennywise on – which she and Mr Fitzgerald used for ‘knife play’ in the bedroom.
She was such a horror movie fan that she gave housemate Lauren White the nickname Chucky, a vicious serial killer doll from the Child’s Play slasher film franchise. A friend of Groves said the two had ‘joked’ about Mr Fitzgerald ending up ‘on the wall’ as there was ‘space for him’.
Opening the case, prosecutor Steven Perian KC, said of Groves and her lover: ‘Their sex life involved bondage, dominance submission and masochism – BDSM. ‘It is likely she was obsessed with Frankie Fitzgerald because of his performance in the bedroom. ‘The prosecution case is the defendant is a manipulative, possessive and jealous woman.
‘The killing is very likely to have been a crime of passion driven by her jealousy.’ Afterwards Groves video-called her friend, Vikki Baitup, ‘giggling’ and ‘admitted’ the killing. Telling jurors about the call, Mr Perian KC continued: ‘The defendant went to the bedroom three times and showed the body of Frankie Fitzgerald covered in a duvet.
‘She said they were lying in bed together and Frankie Fitzgerald was asleep. ‘The defendant was going through his messages and saw he had been talking to a 13-year-old girl and while Mr Fitzgerald was asleep, she put a dagger in his throat waking him up.
‘He moved and they started fighting.’
He continued: ‘While the defendant was on the video chat, she could be seen cleaning the bookcase with blood on it. She showed a book and showed blood spots. ‘Ms Baitup recalls at some point during the video chat hearing Ms White say “I’m going to crack”. ‘The defendant told Ms White, “You can’t crack, you’re an accomplice, you put the bin bags under his body”.’
The court heard Groves had sent a message to Ms Baitup to create a ‘false alibi’ in order to ‘cover her a***’ where she claimed Mr Fitzgerald had ‘walked out’ on her and that it was ‘over’ between the two of them.
On the phone call with Ms Baitup, Groves explained her logic, saying Mr Fitzgerald had been ‘suicidal anyway’ and that ‘it was alright, they’ll just assume he has gone off and committed suicide’.
When asked what she was going to do with the body, the defendant replied ‘it’s alright, we are going to bury it in the back garden”,’ Mr Perian said. A pathologist’s report revealed Mr Fitzgerald was stabbed 17 times to the front of the chest, twice to other chest areas and three to times to the neck – resulting in his death after ‘multiple perforations of heart and lungs’ and ‘catastrophic blood loss’.
Footage from officers at the scene was played to the court. They reported an ‘incredibly strong’ smell of bleach in the bedroom. Groves could be heard saying: ‘He tried to attack me, it’s not the first time, I’ve got video footage of him raping me and beating me.’
The couple had a camera set up in the bedroom which captured them having sex – the recordings of which Groves was said to use to blackmail lovers and claimed Mr Fitzgerald had been abusing her. However, Mr Perian highlighted a recording that showed the activity was ‘consensual’ because they had spoken about their ‘safe word’ which was ‘red light’.
The court heard ‘cunning and astute’ Groves had spoken with friends about getting Mr Fitzgerald ‘down a dark alley’ and how she would ‘get away’ with murder. Groves had also been violent towards Ms White, only calming down when she ‘saw a bit of blood’.
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