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Carolyn Taylor

Age: 54

Sex: female

Date: 15 Jul 1992

Place: South Holmwood, Dorking, Surrey

Carolyn Taylor was stabbed in the heart at her home.

Her 56-year-old French boyfriend was tried for her murder but acquitted.

Carolyn Taylor died from a single seven- inch stab wound that went through her lung and punctured her heart.

Carolyn Taylor had met the Frenchman earlier in Corsica whilst she was on holiday and fell instantly in love with him. He had been flying a two-seater plane from the beach and after meeting Carolyn Taylor he went to live with her in her large home in South Holmwood near Dorking.

At the trial, the Frenchman said Carolyn Taylor's son had stabbed Carolyn Taylor but said that other members of her family had been involved too.

The Frenchman said that he and Carolyn Taylor had gone to bed happily on the night of 14 July 1992 and that he was woken up by Carolyn Taylor's son when he came into their room and started speaking to her. He said that during their conversation he heard the son say, 'fuck . . . French' or something like that. However, he said that he then went downstairs at her request and that when he returned, he found Carolyn Taylor and her son in the kitchen. He said, 'She seemed to have her face battered with punches' and said that her son had a kitchen knife in his hand. He said then that Carolyn Taylor then pushed past her son and that she then screamed and turned around. The Frenchman then said, 'She took two steps towards me. I jumped forward to try to help her. I held her, then I helped her to collapse'. He said that he saw blood on her and that he then believed that she was dead as she had no reactions. He said that he was then in despair and picked up the knife and put it to his chest and asked the son to help him commit suicide but said that the son didn't answer him and fled through the window.

However, the son said that he woke up to the sound of his mother screaming and said that he found her naked in the hallway with her face covered in blood. He said that the Frenchman had punched her in the face during a row and that as he was about to call a doctor the Frenchman appeared with a knife hidden behind his back and then stabbed Carolyn Taylor.

The son said that the Frenchman then said, 'I have killed your mother, your mother has been sleeping around'.

The son said that the Frenchman then tried to stab him.

He said that the Frenchman then fled with a bottle of whisky and a bottle of port.

The Frenchman was later found unconscious in a field with the knife beside him.

After he was arrested, he tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrist with the glass from his glasses.

At the trial the Frenchman denied murdering Carolyn Taylor and the attempted murder of her son. He said that he loved Carolyn Taylor very dearly and said, 'I was crying and holding the knife to my chest because I was thinking that Carolyn was dead, and I wanted to die too'.

At the trial the Frenchman's defence said that the son and the daughter were worried that they were going to lose their home and the money they were going to inherit.

It was also heard that Carolyn Taylor had been doing a great deal for the Frenchman but had been doing nothing for her children.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.courtnewsuk.co.uk

see Independent

see Independent

see Independent

see Newcastle Journal - Friday 12 February 1993