The ‘dream solution’ motive for Michelle Taylor’s

The ‘dream solution’ motive for Michelle Taylor’s slaying
of her love rival Alison Shaughnessy is ‘pathetic,’ an Old Bailey
jury was told.

The prosecution claim Taylor’s entry in her diary which
stated her ‘dream solution would be for Alison to disappear’
points the finger of suspicion at her.

But in his closing speech for Taylor’s defence, Mr Richard
Ferguson, QC, said: ‘The diary shows the way the affair started,
the way it progressed, and the way it faded.

‘You do not stab someone 54 times for and affair which is
dead or dying.

‘The motive proposed by the prosecution is pathetic.

‘
Mr Ferguson reminded the jury that Taylor had described
her lover John Shaughnessy, 30, as ‘a b******’ in the diary.

And he pointed out that Mr Shaughnessy told the court the
affair was virtually over when his wife was murdered.

‘Do you think for one moment if it had not been for that
affair that Michelle would be in the dock today?’ asked counsel.

‘Ladies and gentlemen of the jury there are some so blind
they just will not see,’ he said.

‘And Mr Nutting (the prosecuter) just will not see.

‘
Counsel said the prosecution had presumed the guilt of
Taylor and her sister Lisa then ‘worked backwards to try to fit
the evidence in with the guilt.

‘
‘Once that guilty person is selected you then abandon
the other suspects, you then ignore the other evidence.

‘The one frightening thing about this case is there is
so little evidence against these two girls.

‘You have a Crown case which is bereft of forensic
evidence.

‘
Mr Ferguson said the circumstantial evidence against
the sisters was not sufficient to convict them of murder.

The prosecution have relied on the finding of Lisa
Taylor’s fingerprint at the scene in Vardens Road, Battersea,
and the use of Michelle Taylor’s cashpoint when she was in
Bromley, said counsel.

The third ‘factor’ was the sighting of the sisters in
Michelle Taylor’s car outside the Churchill Clinic when they
claimed they were on the Bromley shopping trip.

‘You are not trying them for any of those things.

You
are trying them for murder,’ said counsel.

‘If Michelle Taylor and her sister were the ones who
murdered Alison, it was a cold blooded attack, obviously planned
in advance.

‘Do you not think Michelle could have come up with an
alibi which included the using of the cash card?’ he asked.

‘Do you not think they could have covered themselves
for the presence of Lisa’s finger print and being at the
clinic?
‘You show me one piece of other evidence in this case.

‘
Mr Ferguson claimed Jeanette Tapp, who refuted the
girl’s alibi’s in court, had told the truth when she told
detectives were with her watching television at the time of the
killing.

And he said in the witness box Michelle Taylor had
appeared ‘a rather sad young woman who has found the great love
of her life has been ashes.

‘
‘The impression she gave was not that of a cold-blooded
calculating killer.

‘
Counsel told the jury that three women had been
attacked by men in the Vardens Road area ‘and you will be hard
pressed to reject the possibility that some weirdo was guilty of
this murder.

‘
Mr Ferguson concluded: ‘You will never be in a position
where you can put your hand on your heart and say that I am sure
these two girls are guilty of murder.

‘
Michelle Taylor, 21, who lived at the clinic where she
worked in Lambeth Road, Bermondsey, and Lisa Taylor, 19, of
Kemble Road, Forest Hill, deny murder.

The jury is expected to retire to consider its decision
tommorow (Thurs).

ENDS