Birmingham: Police cordon off Regency Road in Dunstall Park

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Jake Notman inflicted more than 30 stab wounds on Lauren Bloomer, 25, after eating a cannabis brownie to celebrate the “delayed” release of the PlayStation 5 console. A court heard Notman, 27, had “totally lost touch with reality” and did not realise “what was real and what was not”, and so the Crown accepted his mental state meant there was no realistic prospect of a conviction for the murder charge.

Instead, Notman admitted a lesser charge of manslaughter and will be sentenced later today, reports Birmingham Live.

Stafford Crown Court heard the car factory worker unleashed the frenzied attack on Ms Bloomer in which he beat her, strangled her and stabbed her multiple times – including in the eyes and face – before running over her “defenceless” body with his Ford.

Miss Deborah Gould, junior prosecutor for the Crown, said Ms Bloomer, a university student studying at home due to COVID-19 restrictions, had become so concerned about her boyfriend’s behaviour she made internet searches about “bad trips” shortly before her death.

Ms Bloomer had also telephoned the relatives of Notman – his aunt and uncle – which recorded the events leading up to her death, where she was heard pleading for help and saying “Jake, I love you”.

The judge, the Honourable Mrs Justice May, told jurors that it was agreed Notman attacked and killed Miss Bloomer at his home in Tamworth, Staffordshire, in November 2020.

She said his “thought processes” were “seriously disturbed” at the time.

Opening the case, Miss Gould said: “Lauren Bloomer was in a relationship with this defendant. He was high on cannabis, having ingested a cannabis brownie.

“Tragically, it looked like something out of the movie Scream.

“Lauren activated her telephone, she was not to know she was about to record her murder.”

It was heard that Notman may have become aggressive because he thought Ms Bloomer, originally from Birmingham, had been laughing at him.

On the telephone call, Ms Bloomer was heard screaming multiple times while the Notman could be heard saying “I will f***** murder you”, said Miss Gould.

The court was told Notman “grabbed Lauren’s hair”, causing her distress, making her “very frightened”.

Miss Gould said the Notman went downstairs into the kitchen, passing the lounge, and took a kitchen knife.

Then he “confronted Lauren” where she “made her way to the front door” and he “proceeded to stab her”.

Miss Gould said Lauren lay ‘defenceless’ on the driveway outside the property.

Notman then took some car keys, opened the door of his Ford, “positioned himself behind the wheel” and then ‘fired the ignition’ before he “drove over the entirety of her body with deliberate precision”, said the prosecution.

Defending Notman, Mr Andrew Fisher QC, said the pair had been celebrating together that “terrible” evening about the launch of the “new PS5”, having both been “gamers”.

He said: “(They) had a celebration of the long-delayed release of the new PS5 PlayStation.

“They had a celebration and decided to partake with weed brownies.

“Neither really drunk alcohol or smoked. Tragically, it all went horrendously wrong.”

Mr Fisher said his client became paranoid, adding that Notman even asked “her to kill him repeatedly before he so terribly killed her in the most horrendous way imaginable.

“Jake Notman suffered from an extra florid psychotic episode.”

Mr Fisher said Notman, at the time, was ‘floridly psychotic’ and ‘did not know the true nature of his actions’.

Source: Read Full Article