THIS is the chilling moment a murderer husband admits to killing his wife just minutes after she was found dead in bed.
Shocking footage captured by police from inside an ambulance shows Stephen Parsons tell officers: “She begged me to put a pillow over her.”
He added: “She kept on and on and on. I was so fed up that I promised if I did, we would go together. That is why I’m such a failure.”
The clip comes from bodyworn footage taken from inside an ambulance took Stephen to hospital with injuries soon after the killing.
Parsons was found guilty of killing 69-year-old Erica Parsons at their home. He was sentenced to life in prison on Friday and will serve a minimum term of 13 years.
The 71-year-old confirmed he assisted in killing his wife, but denied her murder.
Exeter Crown Court heard police were called to the couple’s home in Bondleigh, Devon, on 11 February 2023, after he sent a message to a friend saying: “by the time you read this we will be dead”.
Emergency services rushed to the scene where they found Erica dead in bed.
Stephen was found next to her with serious injuries to his arms and he was taken to hospital for treatment.
In the ambulance he was arrested on suspicion of murder and told the officer about having caused Erica’s death.
A postmortem examination of Erica’s body concluded that she was suffocated between 9-10 February, at least 24 hours before Stephen received his injuries.
Stephen is seen on the video telling cops: “It happened before today. Erica, she has been feeling so bad, she had been so ill, she’d been begging me to help her. Keeping on and on and on.”
The court heard evidence that in the months before the incident, the couple had defaulted on numerous payments and had growing debts.
Stephen had been telling companies they owed money to, that the couple were both ill with cancer and were undergoing treatment in hospital.
He also claimed Erica had become dependent on drinking large quantities of alcohol on a weekly basis.
Medical evidence proved that these claims were not true and neither had been undergoing treatment for cancer.
Stephen claimed that the couple, who were well known for breeding Southern Pointer dogs, had made a pact to die together.
However, detectives found no evidence of this and were further able to show through the investigation that Erica had been making plans for the future.
They included going to dog shows and meeting friends later that week.
Parsons pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility, claiming that he had killed Erica as part of pact, but this was not accepted at an earlier hearing.
Speaking after the verdict, Detective Superintendent James Dowler, Head of the Major Crime Investigation Team said: “This was a sensitive and prolonged investigation.
“We welcome the verdict reached by the jury after hearing all the evidence and also the sentence passed by the judge today.
“Our thoughts are with Erica Parsons and all those who knew who her.
“Erica loved animals and was heavily involved in the care of dogs and horses throughout her life. I hope the outcome reached today provides some closure to all those who have been by her death.”
By Clare O’Reilly
A BEAUTIFUL horsewoman, her charming abuser and a twisted web of sex, deception and violence – Fabulous investigates the tragic murder of Katie Simpson
Slumped in the passenger seat of the car, Katie Simpson’s life was ebbing away.
On the phone to a 999 operator, her sister’s partner Jonathan Creswell was being talked through how to perform CPR on her.
“Nothing’s happening. I think I’m hurting her,” he shouted down the phone.
It would prove to be a darkly accurate statement.
Less than a week later, on August 3, 2020, 21-year-old Katie – a talented showjumper – died in hospital, having never regained consciousness.
The person responsible for her death? Jonathan Creswell.
Far from being the hero who, as he’d claimed to hospital staff, had found her after she tried to take her own life and rushed her to A&E, it was he who brutally attacked and raped her.
He then watched over her in hospital as, surrounded by her devastated family, she took her last breath.
Creswell, 36, who was in a relationship with Katie’s older sister Christina, and the father of Christina’s two children, was charged with murder in March 2021, seven months after her death.
