It was a case with evidence so harrowing that the judge offered potential jurors the chance to say the did no want to be picked to sit on the jury.
During the five-day trial, the jury heard in detail how loving son Daniel O'Hara Wright killed his mother whilst in the grip of a 'catastrophic' psychotic episode.
Here is a timeline of events in the case:
October 22, 2020
Carole and Daniel Wright enjoy a walk around Virginia Water, Surrey. A happy selfie taken during the walk is shown to the jury as evidence of the mother and son's loving relationship.
October 23, 2020
c.1.40pm: Carole and Daniel Wright leave their home in Uxbridge, London
c.2.40pm: The mother and son arrive at Watlington Hill, the National Trust woodland near Christmas Common. Their route from London has taken them up the M40
3.19pm: Louise Townsend’s Ford Kuga passes a CCTV camera outside Watlington Park estate. A short while later, O’Hara Wright throws himself in front of the car, gets in and tells her he’s ‘fallen from the sky’. They drive a short distance before the two of them tussle over her handbag and he runs from the car.
c.3.20pm-3.30pm: He runs past another woman, alerted after hearing a woman screaming. She says in her witness statement that the defendant had ‘crazed flared eyes’.
c.3.30pm-3.40pm: Chicken keeper Barbara Fletcher hears the noises of bracken breaking outside her window. She later discovers a chicken missing. O’Hara Wright will tell psychiatrists months later that he bit the head off a chicken.
c.3.30pm-4pm: Wayne McClaren-Smith – nicknamed ‘Rob’ – and his wife are walking their dogs in Watlington Hill. They see blood and broken glass on the path and remove the glass, using dog poo bags, and put it in a dog waste bin in the National Trust car park. They try to call police on the non-emergency 101 number but are prevented by poor signal. He later tells officers where he has found the glass and blood. The broken glass – part of a kombucha bottle from which O’Hara Wright was drinking – contains the defendant and ‘victim’s’ DNA.
c.6pm: Police officers find Mrs Wright’s body near a barbed wire fence in Watlington Hill woodlands.
After 6pm: Police officers discover O’Hara Wright in the bathroom of Queenswood Farm, Christmas Common.
Later that evening, a police officer searches O’Hara Wright’s bedroom at the family home in Regent Avenue, Uxbridge. He sees ‘devilish characters’ drawn on a ‘placard’ in the room.
READ MORE:
- Live updates from court as 'killer' faces judge
- Sister's plea for better understanding of mental health issue
- How loving son came to be charged with mother's murder
- What hospital order for Watlington woods 'killer' means
November 1, 2020
He spits faeces at PC Ben Lewis, who is on bed watch
November 2, 2020
Staff nurse Sergio Juarez is attacked with a spoon
November 5, 2020
O’Hara Wright is admitted to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, bypassing usual booking-in procedures as he is so unwell.
December 6, 2021
Trial begins at Oxford Crown Court. O’Hara Wright denies murder.
December 10, 2021
Jurors take around two-and-a-half hours to return to court and deliver verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
December 21, 2021
O’Hara Wright is in court as Judge Ian Pringle QC imposes a hospital order with a section 41 Mental Health Act restriction. It means he won’t be released until the Secretary of State is satisfied he is not a risk.
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