A MAN accused of murdering a woman in her own home and attempting to murder her aunt has said he never confessed to the crimes – and claimed the witnesses who say he did are lying.
On the sixth day of his trial in the Royal Court, Rickie Tregaskis told the jury that the people who said he had admitted his guilt to them were giving false evidence.
Barbara Griffin (59) and her aunt Emma Anton (84) were attacked in Mrs Griffin’s flat in St Saviour by an intruder in the early hours of 2 August 1990.
Mrs Griffin was stabbed in the heart and died. Miss Anton was stabbed repeatedly but survived.
Mr Tregaskis (53) denies murder and attempted murder. He previously stood trial in relation to the two offences in September 1991 and was acquitted. But last week four witnesses told the court that Mr Tregaskis had confessed to them that he was guilty of the stabbings.
Solicitor General Matthew Jowitt, prosecuting, cross examined Mr Tregaskis yesterday, saying: ‘All these four people say broadly the same thing: that you had admitted killing Barbara Griffin.’
Mr Tregaskis replied: ‘Every single one of them is wrong, and four wrongs don’t make a right.’
Two of the witnesses, Darren Hare and Marie Dean, were former friends of Mr Tregaskis, and Mr Jowitt asked: ‘Do you suggest that these two colluded to give evidence against you?’
Mr Tregaskis replied: ‘I can’t say.’
Another witness, Terence Chapman, also said he had heard Mr Tregaskis admitting the crimes, and the Solicitor General again asked why he would have lied.
Mr Tregaskis said: ‘We had a serious falling out about drugs. He started to become extremely paranoid.’
Mr Tregaskis’s half-sister Diane Harvey, who had been adopted as a baby, also said he had confessed his guilt to her.
The defendant told the court: ‘My sister thought she had been abandoned. I was warned by my other sister: “Be careful, because Diane is going to get back at the family one day”.’
Mr Jowitt said: ‘Marie Dean said you told her you enjoyed killing.’
Mr Tregaskis replied: ‘How could anyone enjoy something like that?’
Mr Jowitt added: ‘Mr Chapman said you told him: “She came at me with a bat, so I stabbed her.” Did you say that?’
The defendant said: ‘No, sir.’
Mr Jowitt contended that Mr Tregaskis had confessed to the four witnesses because he felt ‘safe to do so’.
He said: ‘You told your sister: “The police can’t do anything about it because you can’t be tried for the same crime twice.” Did she make that up?’
Mr Tregaskis replied: ‘If I had committed this crime I would never have spoken about it again in my life.’
The court was also read two statements. One came from the former personnel manager of Le Riches’ grocery chain, where Mrs Griffin had worked and Mr Tregaskis was employed for four months, from April to July 1990.
She stated: ‘There would have been no reason for Mr Tregaskis and Barbara Griffin ever to have met. Their respective jobs would not have brought them into direct contact.’
The other statement came from Crown Advocate Julian Gollop, one of the lawyers who defended Mr Tregaskis during the original trial in 1991.
Witnesses who gave evidence last week told the court that they had seen a naked man running through Le Geyt estate on the night of the stabbings.
But none of them described him as having tattoos. A statement provided by Crown Advocate Gollop and read in court said: ‘Mr Tregaskis was requested to remove his shirt and the tattoos on his arms were clearly visible.’
The jurors were told that if they were sure that Mr Tregaskis had stabbed the women but were unsure that he intended to kill either of them, they could return verdicts of manslaughter for the killing of Mrs Griffin and grave and criminal assault for the attack on Miss Anton. The trial continues.
