the times | Wednesday November 10 2021 9
News
A wealthy divorcee has been banned
from her local library for ten years for
stalking two women who worked there
and accusing them of having a lesbian
affair.
Louisa Carlton, 66, hid behind
hedges and pillars and lurked in the car
park of the library in Beaconsfield,
Buckinghamshire, to confront her vic-
tims, who are happily married to men.
Carlton was banned from making
any approach to the librarians, Dorota
Fraczeck-Streeter and Lisa Taylor-
Puzey, or entering the library for the
next ten years.
The jury at Amersham crown court
took less than two hours to convict
Carlton after a three-day trial in which
she represented herself but was not
allowed to cross-examine the women.
Instead Michael Roques QC was
appointed by the court to put a series of
lurid allegations to them. In the witness
was time for a change. “There’s always
a changing of the guard in television.
Television is very sensitive to the idea of
diversity,” he said.
Boulton, a former political editor for
the ITV breakfast show TV-am, chaired
Sky’s first election debate in 2010. He
covered eight general elections for Sky
and has interviewed every prime minis-
ter since Alec Douglas-Home.
In 2018 he was filmed swearing off-
air at Beth Rigby, who later became Sky
News’s political editor. Reflecting on
the video, he said: “What that was really
about was me having to be my own floor
manager during a commercial break.”
Boulton hopes to keep broadcasting
and is working on “some long-form
stuff”. He said he would still “do stuff
with Sky” but admitted that leaving
daily live TV would be a wrench.
‘We boomers have had our day’, TimesAdam Boulton to bow out
after 33 years at Sky News
Jake Kanter Media CorrespondentStalker banned from her local library
box Carlton had to be stopped repeat-
edly for claiming that the victims had a
sexual interest in her and in Judge
Catherine Tulk.
Judge Tulk, when thanking the jury,
said: “It’s been quite a tricky case to
listen to. I can assure you it’s been a
tricky case from my seat too.”
The judge said that Carlton, of Wor-
thing, West Sussex, had spent a long
time in jail on remand after continuing
her harassment while awaiting trial.
After sentencing her, she said: “I don’t
quite know what the future holds for
her but prison is not the best place for
her. I can only hope she gets the help
she needs from out in the community.”
Carlton, who wore sunglasses
throughout the trial, visited the
women’s homes and followed them into
shops, jumping out at them and shout-
ing: “I know what you are up to.”
In her evidence she tried to suggest
that one of the women’s husbands who
gave evidence was “suffering fromdementia”. During her summarising
statement, Carlton told the jury that
she was suffering from depression that
she said had been left untreated. Judge
Tulk stopped her and told her that she
could not give new evidence during her
summary to the jury.
Carlton also tried to speak about a
lesbian couple she knew who were
having in-vitro fertilisation treatment.
She was once again halted by the judge,
who said it was not relevant to her stalk-
ing charges.
While Judge Tulk summarised the
evidence of the witnesses, Carlton
could be seen shaking her head and
muttering quietly: “No, no, no.”
Once the judge completed the sum-
mary, Carlton suddenly informed the
jury that her faux-fur jacket was not
made of real fur.
She then told the judge that she
would like to appeal against the convic-
tion. Judge Tulk advised her to pursue
the legal action at a later date.John Simpson
Adam Boulton is leaving Sky News
after three decades as one of its most
recognisable presenters.
Boulton joined Sky News as political
editor when the channel launched in
early 1989. Since 2014 he has been edi-
tor-at-large, anchoring big events and
his own shows, including All Out Politics.
In an interview in The Times today,
Boulton said his departure was a
mutual decision made after John Ryley,
the head of Sky News, said that TV was
leaving the era of the “all-powerful
anchor”. Ryley has described Boulton,
62, as a giant in political journalism.
“It looks like the direction which Sky
News wants to go over the next few
years is not one that’s a particularly
good fit for me,” Boulton said. He added
that TV’s embrace of diversity meant itJudge asks for
psychiatrist in
killing trial to
be investigated
David Brown Galappathie, two other consultant
forensic psychiatrists, concluded that
Grusza had bipolar affective disorder
and was suffering a severe psychotic
episode with delusions and hallucina-
tions at the time of the killing.
Last week a jury at Cambridge crown
court found Grusza not guilty of man-
slaughter on the basis of insanity. Mr
Justice Fraser sentenced Grusza yester-
day to an order to be held in a secure
hospital, and highlighted a series of fail-
ures by police and health services. The
judge said that Mierzejewska, 59, had
sought help for her son in the weeks
before the killing but been “rebuffed at
every turn”. She finally secured an ap-
pointment with a GP for Grusza but he
killed her two days before it.
The judge ruled it was “at least rea-
sonably arguable” that Ho “lost sight of
his overriding duty to the court” and
failed to comply with criminal pro-
cedure rules and guidance for expert
witness. He said that the “situation re-
garding Dr Ho is of great concern” and
asked Frank Ferguson, the chief crown
prosecutor for the east of England, to
conduct an inquiry.
“It is important, in any case, that
experts obey the rules that govern the
admissibility of expert evidence, but it
is particularly important in a case such
as this,” the judge added. “Whether Dr
Ho had potentially lost the necessary
degree of independence and objectivi-
ty, his awareness of his overriding duty
is to the court, and his approach to his
task, are in my judgment matters that
ought to be investigated by the CPS.”
The judge described Ho as a “highly
experienced forensic psychiatrist”, who
he said “has been instructed by the
prosecution in a large number of other
cases”. He gave permission for his rul-
ing to be given to barristers involved in
other cases.
Ho declined to comment. The Crown
Prosecution Service has been asked for
a comment.
T
he Manchester
United and
England
footballer
Marcus
Rashford received an
MBE from the Duke of
Cambridge yesterday and
immediately announcedthat he was donating the
insignia to his mother
(John Reynolds writes).
Rashford, 24, was
honoured in a ceremony
at Windsor Castle in
recognition of his work
campaigning for an end
to child food poverty.Afterwards, the striker
said he would be giving
his award to his mother,
Melanie, who joined him
at yesterday’s ceremony.
Rashford had previously
said he “owed
everything” to his
mother, who took on
multiple jobs as she
raised him and his four
siblings as a single parent
in Manchester.
He said: “Without her I
wouldn’t have the morals
that I have because
everything I’ve learnt,This one’s for you,
mum, says Rashford
as he picks up MBE
Marcus Rashford was
accompanied by his
mother, Melanie, as he
received his MBE from
the Duke of CambridgeANDREW MATTHEWS/PAI’ve learnt from her. She’s
the reason I’ve got this
[MBE] so she should have
it.”
Rashford, who also
campaigns against racism
and homelessness, rose to
wider national
prominence after calling
on the government to
provide free school meals
to vulnerable youngsters
through the pandemic, a
campaign that eventually
brought about a
government U-turn. He
has maintained his drive
for social change by
forming a child food
poverty task force, which
has linked up with some
of the UK’s biggest
supermarkets and food
brands.
Prince William, who is
president of the Football
Association, was hosting
his first investiture since
the pandemic began. He
tweeted: “Pleased to be
back doing investitures in
person, celebrating
people across the UK who
have gone above and
beyond for their country
and community. W.”
Other recipients
yesterday included the
actress Sheila Hancock,
88, who was made a
dame commander for
services to drama and
charity.A judge has asked prosecutors to
investigate an eminent psychiatrist
over concerns about a report he
prepared about a man who beheaded
his mother.
Dr David Ho, who has given evidence
for the prosecution in a series of crimi-
nal trials, has been accused of failures in
his assessment of Ernest Grusza. The
ruling could lead to appeals in other
cases in which he has given evidence.
Grusza, 41, used a cleaver to chop
Wieslawa Mierzejewska into 11 pieces
which he wrapped in plastic film before
placing them in a fridge and cupboard
in her home in St Ives, Cambridgeshire.
He said he believed that he was Jesus
and was receiving messages from God
to kill his mother, who was the Devil.
Ho, 44, a consultant forensic psychia-
trist with the Essex Partnership Uni-
versity NHS Foundation Trust, con-
cluded there was no evidence that
Grusza did not know he was doing
wrong when he killed his mother.
Ho was dropped as a prosecution wit-
ness when the defence raised concern
about apparent errors in his report and
his alleged refusal to answer questions.
Narita Bahra QC, for the defence, told
the court that lawyers in other cases in
which Ho had been an expert witness
had also raised concerns about his evi-
dence. She said there had been a “wide-
spread and prolonged failure” by Ho to
answer questions about his report and
“very real and significant concerns”
about his instruction as an expert.
Professor Keith Rix and Dr Nuwan
The state of Ernest
Grusza’s mind
when he killed
his mother was
debated in court