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Accountant guilty of wife murder | Accountant guilty of wife murder |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A former accountant who stabbed his wife 86 times at the family home has been found guilty of murder. | |
David Lilburn knifed his wife of 26 years, Ann, in the chest, head and limbs at their home in Paisley, Renfrewshire, on 29 July last year. | |
He admitted carrying out the attack on the 43-year-old but claimed diminished responsibility due to mental illness. | He admitted carrying out the attack on the 43-year-old but claimed diminished responsibility due to mental illness. |
A jury at the High Court in Glasgow took just two and a half hours to find the 45-year-old guilty of murder. | |
He now faces life behind bars when he returns to court in September. | |
Lilburn had been enraged after his wife vowed to leave him over his affair with another woman, the court was told. | |
A chilling 999 call heard hysterical Ann scream "I'm dead" as her husband repeatedly plunged four kitchen knives into her body. | |
I could not put a breath into her Pc Jon MochanOfficer who arrived at the scene | |
The defence had claimed mental ill health made Lilburn believe a "black shadow" was controlling him and wanted the murder charge to be reduced to culpable homicide. | |
The court heard that in 2001, he retired from his job as a forensic accountant, citing problems with his mental health. | |
He was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and later schizoaffective disorder. | |
Last year he embarked on an affair after answering an advert in a newspaper lonely hearts column. | |
Lilburn told the court his womanising lead to the "complete destruction" of his wife and that their two sons and daughter had lost respect for him. | |
Ann consulted lawyers about a divorce and her husband was sent a letter demanding he leave the family home for the sake of his wife and daughter. | |
Row erupted | |
In the early hours of 29 July 2007, Lilburn had gone to sleep in the marital bed despite it being agreed that he use a spare room. | |
The court heard Ann came home, a row erupted and Lilburn repeatedly banged her head against a door frame and floor. | |
He grabbed four knives from the kitchen before returning to stab his wife 86 times. | |
After the attack, he stepped over his wife's body and went for a shower. | |
When police arrived, Lilburn answered the door to them wearing her dressing gown and looking like "someone from the pages of a magazine". | |
An officer wept in court as he relived trying to keep Ann alive. | |
Pc Jon Mochan said: "I gathered the knives that were near her and then I tried to give her first aid. | |
"There was a double bed and I stripped two pillows. | |
No memory | |
I put one on her chest and stretched it out to compress the blood. I could not put a breath into her." | |
Lilburn told police he had no memory of any attack and that he believed his wife was still alive. | |
However, during the trial, he admitted killing her and said a mysterious "black shadow" had telepathically told him to. | |
He claimed his mental health had been suffering in the lead up to the attack and that he had felt a "sense of foreboding". | |
But the court heard from a score of witnesses who had seen Lilburn prior to the stabbing, including doctors and family, and no-one had reported concerns about his mental health. |