U.K. martial artist kills his parents and then attends a concert

[Kungfoolss]

Son 'killed parents and then went to concert'

By Richard Savill
(Filed: 17/01/2006)

A martial arts enthusiast killed his parents in a "savage, almost ritual" knife attack before going to a rock concert, a court heard yesterday.

Michael Clark was accused of stabbing his father Milroy, 70, a former policeman, and mother Joan, 56, a child minder, in December 2004. After killing them, Clarke, 21, went to a concert by the American band Blink 182 at Wembley Arena with two friends, Bristol Crown Court heard. It was alleged that Clarke kept up the pretence that his parents were alive by making mobile phone calls to them at the family home in Melksham, Wilts. In one he said: "Hello dad, just me, we're on the road. Call me back, bye." The calls were recorded on an answer phone. At Wembley he met another friend, Stuart Painter, who had travelled from Canterbury, Kent, where he was at university.

Clarke handed him the murder weapon, along with his bloodstained shoes and coat, in a holdall, the jury heard. After the concert, Clarke returned to Wiltshire and pretended to discover the murder scene, it was alleged.

He was arrested two days later and charged with murder.

Clarke went on trial with Painter, who was accused of impeding the apprehension of an offender. Both deny the charges. The court heard that Clarke's father had 17 stabbing and slash wounds to his head, face, neck, chest and back, while his mother had 14 similar injuries. The weapon has not been found. Nigel Pascoe QC, prosecuting, said: "Both died where they fell - the mother in the upstairs bedroom and the father at the top of the stairs."

He added that there was no obvious motive but there were possible clues. "Michael Clarke had a great interest and skill in different forms of martial arts, including knife work," said Mr Pascoe. "He possessed a large number and varied collection of knives and there are two sides to the character of him.

"On the surface he showed a warm, loving relationship with his parents but there is also another much darker side. Such a young man may be, at the very least, a potential candidate for this savage, almost ritualistic, killing."

The court heard that Clarke was born with a severe hare lip and cleft palate and had a string of operations as a child. For this reason his parents were very protective of him, said Mr Pascoe. He described Clarke's father as "fastidious and firm" and said the atmosphere at the family home could often be "overbearing" and "stifling".

But Clarke had grown into a strong man and was a black belt in a number of martial arts, the jury was told. He also had a collection of swords. When police examined Clarke's computer they found he had accessed websites on killing people and how to dispose of bodies.

The trial continues.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...17/ixhome.html

[Neildo]

"When police examined Clarke's computer they found he had accessed websites on killing people and how to dispose of bodies."

wow, clever young lad.

Too bad the last concert he got to see was Blink 182. They Suck!! he should've at least attended a swedish black metal concert or something.

[Cassius]

Good to see that they are finally putting people in jail for listening to shitty music.

[tephlon]

Yay go britain top 3 news items

[PizDoff]

Michael Clark was accused of stabbing his father Milroy, 70, a former policeman, and mother Joan, 56, a child minder, in December 2004. After killing them, Clarke

I like the two different spellings.

[PizDoff]

Jury hears son's 'threat to kill'

A man who is accused of killing his parents had spoken to a friend about killing them before, a court has heard.

Michael Clarke, 21, is accused of stabbing his father, Milroy, 70, and mother, Joan, 56, at the family home in Melksham, Wiltshire, in December 2004.

Mr Clarke's friend, John Chamberlain, said Michael made comments about killing his parents after an argument over the volume of the television.

The 21-year-old at Bristol Crown Court denied two counts of murder.

Stuart Painter, 22, also of Melksham, denies assisting an offender. He is accused of hiding Mr Clarke's clothes and a weapon after the killings.

'Unable to sleep'

In the aftermath of the row the court heard Mr Clarke asked Mr Chamberlain: "What would you do tonight if I were to kill my parents?"

Mr Chamberlain said the incident, which happened either at the end of 2002 or early in 2003, had concerned him and he had been unable to sleep because of it.

He said that on the morning of the alleged killings, Mr Clarke's mood had seemed normal and there was no mention of a parental row.

The court heard how, after allegedly killing his parents, Mr Clarke went to watch a concert at Wembley Arena with Mr Chamberlain.

The jury heard Michael Clarke was a martial arts instructor who owned a large and varied collection of knives and weapons.

'Knife drills'

Police found a notebook containing an annotated diagram of a person under the heading "knife drills" containing notes on how to kill with a knife.

Mr Clarke admitted making the notes but claimed they were written for training purposes about four months before the killings, the court heard.

Former policeman Milroy Clarke died after suffering 17 separate stab and slash wounds to his head, face and torso.

His wife Joan was stabbed 14 times during the attack at their home.

The trial continues.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/w...re/4621816.stm

[DerAuslander]

He has horrible taste in music.

In other thoughts, how many of us have notebooks or textbooks of our respective arts that could be used as evidence against us?

Hell, a simple diagram of an RNC, does that equate to pre-meditation?

[Xiangfei]

I was going to scan in the Daily Mail article of this case. That paper has it in for MAists. As soon as someone who happened to do a bit of krotty way back when ups and kills someone, they make them out to be some brutish beast who spent his evenings preparing how to kill and maim. They have this tone in the articles - "oh, he was a martial artist, well THAT explains it then" - that really fecks me off.

[Neildo]

That's because we're all uber-d34dly, baby-melting, no-touch-KO'ing psychos..... or haven't you heard?

I guess you didn't get the memo.

[Mr. Jones]

This article is scary. Even though I practice Aikido they could still use it against me. Like in my handbook it lists 17 basic techniques. If I was accused of murder and the police found my handbook. They would say something like "this handbook lists the 17 basic killing techniques.
People tend to think martial artists are deadly killing machines. Thirty years ago in California you had to register with the police if you had a black belt. Their excuse was that your body was a deadly weapon.