A struggling songwriter stabbed his mum to death with a sword, cut off her head and put it in the freezer at their home in Woking, Surrey, all while wearing negligee, reports the Metro.
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Philip Tarver, 47, was high on coke and had been drinking beer and vodka before killing his 86-year-old mum Angela Tarver.
The Old Bailey in London heard how Tarver cut off his mum’s head and placed it in the freezer, then put her severed ring finger inside a kettle.
His dad, 83-year-old Colin Tarver, ran to the bottom of the driveway to alert police after he found his wife of 59 years lying on their kitchen floor.
When police turned up at the property, Tarver answered the door wearing a see-through floral negligee, waving a Union Jack flag and holding a knife, saying:
I surrender, I surrender.
Tarver was a trained clock maker, and although unemployed had lived with his parents for most of his life and relied on them for financial support while he pursued a career in music.
On the morning of the killing, Tarver behaved strangely, claiming alcohol was ‘poisoned’ before unplugging the phone and computer. When his dad confronted him about why the TV was also disconnected, Tarver slammed the door and told him to ‘go and die’.
Mr Tarver set about reconnecting the TV set in time for Bargain Hunt as Mrs Tarver sat in the kitchen having a cup of tea.
He then said he heard a scream and found his wife on her back on the floor and his son holding an ornamental sword before taking aim at his dad. From the witness box, the pensioner said:
He looked strange, demented. His eyes were a yellow colour. He said “I’ve got to kill you”.
Mr Tarver pulled the sword out of his son’s hands and went outside to call the police.
Following his arrest, Tarver heard his father talking to police and remarked:
Oh, of course, his wife. His wife is in the freezer.
At the police station, he said he was ‘sorry for killing her’, adding he ‘must repent my sins’.
In court though, he changed his story and said his retired oil industry worker dad must have killed his mum then staged the scene to frame him. Yeah… nice try buddy.
A jury at the Old Bailey found Philip Tarver guilty of murdering his mother and threatening to kill his father. The only issue that remains is whether Tarver’s psychosis was brought on by drug use, in which case the prosecutor Alexandra Healy QC says there would be no partial defence of diminished responsibility.
Obviously we don’t know the intricacies of the Tarver family history but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone more ungrateful than a 47-year-old man being financially supported by his parents while chasing some music pipe dream, only to stab his mum to death and threaten to do the same to his father. Not to mention using their financial support to get wasted on coke and booze.
Luckily, 83-year-old Colin Tarver was able to survive the incident but he now spends the rest of his days without the woman who was by his side the last 59 years, at the hands of the son they created. Tragic stuff indeed. RIP Angela and let’s hope justice is done.
This story comes only a week after we reported on the workshy son who murdered both his parents, dismembered them, and then ‘cooked up a diabolic stew of human remains’. Yeesh.
