Hilton had abnormality of mind’ claims doctor

SOHAM man Sean Hilton – standing trial for the murder of his girlfriend Kim Fuller – was suffering from a serious abnormality of mind when he killed her, a court has heard. Hilton, 39, had the emotional age of a pre-school child and had obsessive compu

SOHAM man Sean Hilton - standing trial for the murder of his girlfriend Kim Fuller - was suffering from a serious "abnormality of mind" when he killed her, a court has heard.

Hilton, 39, had the emotional age of a pre-school child and had "obsessive compulsive personality features" according to a leading forensic doctor.

Defence witness Dr Ekkehart Staufenberg, a consultant forensic neuropsychiatrist, told the court he believed Hilton's mental state was "significant and pivotal" to the events leading up to Miss Fuller's death on March 3 last year.

But he found no evidence of cold, callous disregard in Hilton.

He told Cambridge Crown Court that Hilton's problems stemmed from his childhood.

"This man had no good parenting or trusting relationships," he said. "The man is in a pre-school level in terms of what he needs in relationships. He has never developed the capacity for stable, two-way equal relationships.

"The need for intense attachment, and the yearning for love to that intense level is pre-school."

He told the court that Hilton had reacted emotionally to three specific aspects of his personal life and covered his face with his hands as he relived them during assessment.

There was sustained upset and aggression from his father towards his mother in front of him, bullying, teasing and taunting by his peer group and an unpredictable and sustained belting and hitting at the hands of his father, he said.

Dr Staufenberg said that Hilton had habitually dealt with bad things in his life by disconnecting himself.

He said: "It is accepted in a child. We are expected by convention to be able to live and learn from the mistakes we make. He avoids as a developmental mechanism much more appropriate to a child."

In cross-examination Timothy Barnes, prosecuting, said that Dr Staufenberg's report stemmed from an interview with Hilton, who he said had been proven a liar on many occasions.

Hilton, of Brook Street denies murdering mother-of-two Miss Fuller, 34, and dumping her body on a disused airfield at Norfolk.

The trial continues.