Retired scientist beat partner to death with hammer in row over duvet

Edgar Fairhurst, who had a history of depression, killed his partner of 40 years using a lump hammer

Exeter Crown Court (Neil Owen/Creative Commons)

A retired scientist battered his partner to death in the middle of the night after a row about straightening the duvet, a court has heard.

Edgar Fairhurst said 83-year-old Marjorie Elphick had been nagging him about the noise he was making, and he launched an attack in which he “beat her to a pulp”.

Fairhurst, 74, called the police after the attack, and told officers “she would not stop going on and on and I picked up a mallet and struck her,” Exeter Crown Court heard.

The couple had been together for around 40 years and lived together in Bideford, Devon. The pair were sleeping in separate but adjoining beds when Fairhurst killed her.

The jury heard that Elphick fought Fairhurst as he attacked her, scratching him on the chest and shoulder as she tried to wrestle the hammer from him, but she was killed by at least ten blows to the head.

Elphick was a retired postal worker and a member of the Bideford Art Group.

The court heard that retired industrial chemist Fairhurst was a secret drinker who rarely left the house.

He also has a history of depression and had previously attempted suicide by switching on the gas in the oven and taking five diazepam tablets.

According to the Plymouth Herald, jurors were told the only issue they need to decide is whether Fairhurst had diminished responsibility due to a mental disorder.

Mr Paul Dunkels, QC, said: “In the early hours of December 30 the defendant attacked his partner with a lump hammer and killed her. He struck her on the head several times, causing severe injury.

“Having rendered her unconscious, in his own words, 'had to make sure she was dead. I put her to sleep'. He hit her with the hammer again a number of times so her skull was shattered and she died.”

Fairhurst then allegedly got dressed before turning the gas oven on in a failed suicide bid, before calling the police.

Mr Dunkels told the court that when officers arrived, Fairhurst told them: “She is upstairs. I beat her to a pulp. It's a mess up there.”

“She would not stop going on and on and I picked up a mallet and struck her. I don't know why I did it. She would not die and I hit her to make sure,” he reportedly said.

The trial continues.