Axe killer's appeal fails
A Shropshire labourer who decapitated a Shrewsbury man with an axe before dumping his headless body in a park has failed to overturn his murder conviction. Lawyers for Maurice Latus, of Wroxeter, told the Court of Appeal in London yesterday he had been in a state of "mental collapse".
Lawyers for Maurice Latus, pictured right, of Wroxeter, told the Court of Appeal in London yesterday that he had been in a state of "mental collapse" when he attacked Julian Sanders.
But Lord Justice Pill dismissed the appeal, saying that no new evidence would be admitted.
The body of 20-year-old Mr Sanders, pictured below, was found dumped in Cofton Park, Birmingham in 2000 and Latus was convicted of the murder three years later.
Mr Anthony Barker QC, for Latus, said that new psychiatric evidence had come to light, and argued that the verdict should be reduced to one of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Mr Barker said that as Latus, who is now 36, had not accepted he was mentally ill at the time of the killing or trial, he had not put it forward as a defence.
In 2002, Latus admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility of his landlord Colin Foulkes, and was convicted of attempting to kill his mother, Christine Artiss.
He was tried at the same time for the murder of Mr Sanders, but the jury failed to reach a verdict and there was a retrial in 2003.
