Guilty was the verdict, in a contentious murder trial of Dylan Thomas, who fatally stabbed his best friend William Bush at a house they shared in Llandaff, Cardiff, on Christmas Eve 2023.
The two men had been living together in a house in Llandaff, Cardiff, when the fatal confrontation occurred.
The evening prior, Thomas had gone out with his family to eat in Miskin, Llantrisant. Upon his return to his grandmother's home in Rhoose, Thomas started up a conversation on SnapChat with William that lasted into the early hours of the next morning.
As he texted with his best friend, he was simultaneously scouring the internet for information about veins, arteries, human anatomy, and assisted suicide. The chat picked back up around 11 that Christmas Eve morning, when his Grandmother was driving him from Rhoose to Llandaff. He asked her to drive her to the house under the pretense of checking in on his dog. He entered the house and William was stabbed repeatedly by Thomas, who then called for an ambulance while a bystander in a nearby parking lot called the police.
The defence, lawyer of Mr Thomas's asked jurors to consider the possibility that his client was impaired by mental health problems.
"We don’t know what caused Dylan Thomas to act in the way he did," said Greg Bull KC, prosecuting, in his closing speech.
He said to jurors Mr Thomas had shown "clear thinking" when he told police he was acting in self-defence when he killed Mr Bush.
"If he is suffering psychosis with the fear Mr Bush was going to kill him, why on Earth was he going there?" Mr Bull asked.
Jurors heard expert opinion that Mr Thomas had been psychotic for months prior to the killing. They also heard he told police officers he was Jesus after his arrest and offered one PC a "job with God".
Following another arrest, for scaling the fence at Buckingham Palace, he spoke about the "illuminati" running the world.
Expert Witnesses:
In their testimonies, two psychiatric experts provided opinions regarding Mr. Thomas's mental state at the time of the attack, with differing conclusions regarding the issue of psychosis, though they both agreed he suffered from the affliction.
Expert witness, Dr. Panchu Xavier, the treating psychiatrist for Mr. Thomas at Ashworth High Secure Hospital, opined that psychosis was a significant contributory factor in the fatality involving Mr. Bush. Dr. Xavier’s assessment emphasized the substantial impact of Mr. Thomas’s mental illness on his actions during the incident. Conversely, Dr. Dilum Jayawickrama, serving as a prosecution expert witness, contended that psychosis did not constitute a primary influence on Mr. Thomas’s behavior. Dr. Jayawickrama maintained that Mr. Thomas retained control over his actions, thereby suggesting diminished causation between his mental illness and the act in question.
Mr Thomas pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder. Following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court in November 2024, Thomas was convicted of his murder. The family of Mr Bush left a statement on the South Wales Police website thanking the police but asking Thomas should never be released.
"Dylan Thomas is an evil, manipulative liar. Throughout this process we have seen no evidence of any remorse or taking responsibility for his actions that day. We can only hope that he will never be released back into the community”.
https://www.south-wales.police.uk/news/south-wales/news/2024/november/llandaff-murder-trial-man-convicted-of-murder/
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