A woman looked like a ‘crazed animal’ as she attacked her ‘sugar daddy’ with a bottle of vodka before stabbing him to death, a court heard.
Lauren Harris, 29, suddenly snapped and lunged at her grandfather Mark Wilcox, 65, at their seaside home in Colwyn Bay, Wales, a murder trial has heard.
The Mold Crown Court jury heard her “pupils were enormous” as she began punching and kicking her lover before hitting him over the head with a vodka bottle in front of two of his friends.
Harris’ friend David Webster, 43, told the trial that everything “quiet down again” before Harris stabbed Wilcox again, leaving him to die in a pool of blood on his couch.
Webster and Thomas Whiteley, 33, had been invited by Harris to the seafront home for a night of “drinking and drug taking” in November last year.
All three are on trial accused of murdering Mr Wilcox. They have all denied the charge.
Lauren Harris, 29 (pictured arriving at court), was described as a “crazed animal” when she attacked her “sugar daddy” with a bottle of vodka before stabbing him to death, a court heard.
Mark Wilcox, 65, was left lying in a pool of blood on his armchair at his seaside home in Colwyn Bay, Wales, his trial heard.
Webster blamed Harris for the killing, telling jurors he looked like a “crazed animal.”
Describing the moment he jumped out of his chair, he told the court: “The look in his eyes, his pupils were huge, it was just the speed with which he did it.”
He said he tried to “intervene and calm her down” before taking the vodka bottle away from her, but she continued to “become angry, kicking and screaming.”
Webster told the court everything “quiet down again” until Harris returned and grabbed a knife to stab Mr Wilcox.
He told the jury she stabbed him “without warning” and again described her as a “crazed animal.”
Webster said Harris then stabbed Mr Wilcox again and they “could not get him to stop”.
He said: “I tried to tell him to calm down but he wouldn’t calm down. He said: ‘I’m going to stab you too’.”
The trio then allegedly stole her red Volvo and then crashed it less than a minute after leaving the scene.
Prosecutor Andrew Ford KC said Harris had previous convictions for assault, including unlawful wounding in 2022, involving the use of a knife against a couple.
His friend David Webster told the court that Harris began punching and kicking the grandfather before hitting him over the head with a vodka bottle.
Webster blamed Harris for killing Wilcox, telling jurors he looked like a “crazed animal.”
He retired in October, just weeks before he died in November. The father of four never got the chance to hold his newborn ninth grandchild in his arms.
The jury in the murder trial was previously shown footage of Harris’ arrest and of interviews in custody where she denied taking part in the killing.
Harris added: “I’m here because of what those two did. It wasn’t me.”
After being told she was being detained on suspicion of murder, she said: “No one has done anything wrong. What do you mean by murder?”
“Why am I being arrested for this? It doesn’t make sense to me. I haven’t done anything anyway.”
Mr Wilcox had begun a relationship with Harris because he “wanted to look after her” during her retirement before repeatedly lending her money and even inviting her to stay at his home.
But the court heard how Harris “took advantage” of the grandfather and father of two.
Mr Ford told the court: “Mr Wilcox was a sociable and generous man, whose generosity poured out to people he met, including, sometimes, strangers.”
She met Harris outside the Black Cloak pub in Colwyn Bay when they “started talking and a relationship developed between them”.
Mr Ford said: “Harris took advantage of Mr Wilcox and, for her, he represented an opportunity from which she could benefit.”
Asked about the relationship, Mr Wilcox said he wanted to “help” or “save” Harris.
The court heard that Mr Wilcox was apparently repeatedly lending money to Harris.
His four children were so concerned about their father’s apparent deterioration that one of his partners started a WhatsApp group with them, called the “Dad Brigade,” to “keep an eye on each other.”
At the time of his death, his bank account was overdrawn and he had withdrawn more than £12,000 from it between June and November 2023.
Colwyn Bay, North Wales, where Mark Wilcox lived in his seafront home
Mr Ford told the jury Mr Wilcox was stabbed twice in the chest and suffered “significant head injuries”.
A pathologist found Mr Wilcox suffered two stab wounds as well as injuries consistent with being struck with a solid object, “such as a blood-stained vodka bottle”.
When interviewed by police, Harris denied any involvement in Wilcox’s death.
Whiteley said he “met up” with Harris and Webster that night, and they all went to the house of someone Harris called his “sugar daddy.”
Mr Ford said: “We say all three are responsible for Mr Wilcox’s death.
‘The turning point came after a few hours of drinking and drug use, and events suddenly turned unpleasant and violent.
“We say it was an attack in which he was stabbed twice and assaulted with a weapon, causing significant and various injuries.”
Mr Wilcox worked for the Ministry of Defence and the BBC, then as a freelance IT specialist upon moving to Colwyn Bay, before retiring at the age of 65.
He retired in October, just weeks before he died in November. The father of four never had the chance to hold his ninth grandchild, who had just been born.
Richard Pratt KC, defending, said Harris would not give evidence at the trial.
Judge Pepperall said: “The jury may draw such inferences as it thinks fit from his failure to comply.”
Harris, of no fixed address, Webster, of Widnes, and Whiteley, of Old Colwyn, all deny murder.
The trial continues.
