Teenager who murdered a pensioner and tried to fake mental illness to get away ... trends now
A highly intelligent teenage killer feigned mental illness to try to get away with murdering a pensioner, a court heard yesterday.
Daniel Rounce sought to 'manipulate the process of psychiatric assessment' after stabbing Gerald Wickes in a random attack.
Rounce killed Mr Wickes, 79, with an eight inch blade after following his elderly ex-wife and sneaking into her home through an unlocked door in a killing which a judge said 'defies any explanation'.
Rounce, who was 17 at the time, was initially deemed unfit to stand trial due to mental illness and sent to a high security hospital in Nottingham.
But repeated assessments by medical professionals found no evidence he was suffering from any mental disorders and he was jailed for life yesterday after being found guilty of murder following a trial.
Daniel Rounce was 17-years-old when he killed Gerald Wickes, 79, with an eight inch blade
Mr Wickes was killed in the living room of his own home after Rounce followed his elderly ex-wife to the house and snuck in through an unlocked door
Ordering him to serve a minimum of 25 years at Leicester Crown Court Judge Timothy Spencer KC said jurors had seen through his attempts to cheat justice.
He said 'fluent and articulate' Rounce, who had been accepted at a high-performing grammar school, had told medical professionals he 'wanted to see what he could get away with'.
He said he rejected Rouce's claims he acted in a 'panic' and believed he had deliberately targeted the elderly.
'You were in control of events,' he said.
'When you were arrested by the police you said nothing. And that is a policy that continued right to the end, all the way to the jury's verdict.
'The jury saw through it all.'
Describing the murder as 'chilling', the judge added: 'This killing took place in the living room of what in effect was his own home - a home that was invaded and violated by you. This was a truly wicked act.'
Rounce was ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years at Leicester Crown Court by Judge Timothy Spencer KC who said jurors had seen through his attempts to cheat justice
Rounce, now 18, appeared disheveled in the dock with clumps of hair missing and a bloody nose. He was flanked by seven guards throughout his trial after a violent outburst on the first day.
The judge described him as the as one of the 'most difficult, manipulative and
