Yahoo News University student ‘reported Tinder date to police before he stabbed her to death’
A university student was allegedly stabbed to death by a man she met on Tinder after she reported him to police, a court has heard.
Molly McLaren, 23, sent a WhatsApp message which said: “Feel like I’m f***ing looking over my shoulder all the time” just before Joshua Stimpson carried out the frenzied attack on her with a kitchen knife as she sat in her car on June 29 last year, his trial at Maidstone Crown Court was told.
Covered in blood, the 26-year-old was arrested shortly afterwards in the car park at the Dockside retail outlet in Chatham, Kent, jurors were told.
The pair had been in a seven-month relationship after meeting on Tinder, but she ended it about two weeks before she died when they began to have problems.
Stimpson admits manslaughter but denies murder, arguing diminished responsibility.
Jurors were shown a CCTV image of Stimpson in Asda in Chatham, buying a Sabatier paring knife at around 5pm on June 27.
About half an hour later he bought a Saxon pickaxe from Homebase further along the road.
The knife was the same one used to kill her two days later, prosecutor Philip Bennetts QC said.
Dressed in a blue suit, blue shirt, tie and flanked by four dock officers and medical staff, Stimpson cried and dabbed his eyes with a tissue as he entered the courtroom and listened to the details of the case.
The court heard how the pair’s relationship became strained and Ms McLaren told friends she faced a “dilemma” as she found herself no longer attracted to Stimpson.
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In text messages read to the court, Ms McLaren described his behaviour as “childish” and that she felt like she was “constantly treading on egg shells” around him, adding: “It’s just pathetic. I just feel really pressured with you at the moment if I’m honest.”
On a night out on June 17 in Maidstone, Ms McLaren took Stimpson to one side and broke up with him.
The next day he told her she could have done it in a more “respectful way”, the court heard.
Mr Bennetts said Stimpson was “angry” with the break-up and described him as “rather demanding”.
He said Ms McLaren was frequently trying to put things right.
After they split up, Stimpson posted derogatory comments and photographs about Ms McLaren on Facebook, including claims she was taking drugs.
The court heard Ms McLaren told friends he was “manipulative”, had “turned really nasty” and was threatening her, adding: “He’s literally lost the plot. I was worried he was going to turn up at my house.
“I’m actually scared of what he might do to me. He knows my parents are going away for two weeks.”
She reported the comments to Facebook and when nothing happened, went to North Kent police station, the court heard.
When she spoke to Pc Philpott on June 22, he called Stimpson, put him on speakerphone and said: “We wouldn’t want Molly to come to the police station again about you would we?”
Stimpson’s reply was, “Wouldn’t we?”, Mr Bennetts said.
On the morning of June 29, Ms McLaren went to PureGym at the Dockside outlet and started working out.
When Stimpson arrived shortly after and put his exercise mat near hers, she asked him, “Are you following me now?”, Mr Bennetts told the court.
At 10.45am she texted her mother, saying: “Mum he’s turned up at the gym and come next to me”, before phoning her.
Her mother told her to go straight home and it was at this point she contacted her friends, Mr Bennetts said.
He told the court how Kodie Jarvis had witnessed the attack, and said: “She parked the car. She saw Stimpson drive up. He got out of his car. He walked quickly towards Molly McLaren, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of her car.
“He yanked the door open. Molly started screaming. A man tried to pull Stimpson off.
“Stimpson, covered in blood, paced up and down the length of her car and then stood next to her car.”
When officers arrived minutes later, he walked towards the police car and said: “You want me” before being arrested.
Mr Bennetts told how Benjamin Morton, who had tried to intervene, described Stimpson as “continuously stabbing” Ms McLaren in the neck and head, adding: “It was like a frenzy, he was doing it again and again.”
The trial, expected to last two weeks, continues.
