Vicar Murder Suspect Plotted to Kill Archbishop of Canterbury ...

A drifter accused of murdering a vicar had plotted to kill the Archbishop of Canterbury, even travelling to the city to work out how to get past Rowan Williams’s security.

The Telegraph reports:

 

A drifter accused of murdering a vicar was plotting the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, a court heard.

Stephen Farrow, 48, claimed he had visited Canterbury several times to work out if he could kill Rowan Williams but there was “too much security” for him to attempt it.

Farrow has admitted killing the Reverend John Suddards, 59, at his vicarage in Thornbury, Glos., but denies murdering the vicar and pensioner Betty Yates, 77.

Bristol Crown Court heard how Farrow told people he had been abused by a priest as a child and texted a friend to say “the Church will be the first to suffer” before the killings.

Richard Evans, a mental health nurse, assessed Farrow after his first appearance before magistrates following the vicar’s death in February.

He said: “He said he had been to Canterbury, in Kent, several times to work out whether he could kill Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop.

“He said the security was astronomical but that he intended to kill him.

“He said he was quite grateful that he was arrested because this would have continued and he would have committed further offences.

“He made it clear, without prompting, that he didn’t do it for the notoriety or recognition”

Speaking about Rev Suddards: “He told me he watched him die and there was a significant amount of blood…

Terrible!

There’s more here.

 

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