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Jurors in a murder trial have heard a chilling recording of a former soldier telling a 999 operator “I went round with a knife, I’ve stabbed both of them”, moments after he killed his neighbours.
Ex-Commando Collin Reeves, 35, stabbed Stephen and Jennifer Chapple, 33, to death at their home in Norton Fitzwarren, near Taunton, Somerset, as their two children slept upstairs around 9pm on 21 November last year.
Reeves jumped over a fence to gain access to the property in Dragon Rise, following a long-running row over designated parking.
He called 999 minutes after attacking the couple with a ceremonial dagger he was given when he left the Army.
On Friday, a recording of the emergency call was played to jurors at Bristol Crown Court.
The operator mistook Reeves for the victim, asking if he had been harmed, jurors heard.
Reeves said: “I went round with a knife, I’ve stabbed both of them.”
When asked if the couple were awake when he left, he responded: “No, I think they were sort of drifting. He was lying on the floor, she was lying on the sofa.”
When officers arrived at the scene, the couple’s children were still asleep upstairs.
Jennifer Chapple, 33, and her husband, Stephen Chapple, 36. Pic: Facebook/LinkedIn.
‘White as a ghost’
Giving evidence, Reeves’ mother, Lynn, wept as she told jurors how she found her son “as white as a ghost” on the night of the attack.
“He was just standing, he just looked right through us as if he wasn’t there and said ‘I had to protect my family’,” she said.
Opening the case for the prosecution on Wednesday, Adam Feest QC said Mrs Chapple didn’t have a chance to get up off the sofa to defend herself during the attack.
She suffered six stab wounds to her upper chest and shoulder, causing fatal injuries to a major blood vessel and her heart.
Mr Chapple, 36, also received six stab wounds together with minor injuries.
The court heard he stabbed them in a minute-long attack using the ceremonial dagger.
A court artist’s impression of Reeves in court Pic: Elizabeth Cook
Footage captured on the back door camera showed Reeves entering the property before Mrs Chapple could be heard screaming in terror.
Reeves then shouted “die you f****** die”, the court heard.
Reeves, a former commando engineer in the British Army, has admitted to killing the couple and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Reeves served in the Army between 2002 and 2017, including in Afghanistan.
It was claimed that he appeared to have been struggling with his mental health since he returned and he said he was suffering from an “abnormality of mental functioning” at the time of the attack.
The trial continues.
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