A Dublin health clinic owner was arrested in London while drinking champagne in a taxi on the night a female employee was found dead with multiple stab wounds, a London jury heard yesterday.
Christopher Newman (62), who practised alternative therapies and was known in Dublin as Prof Saph Dean, denies murdering 28-year-old Georgina Eager on May 22nd, 2003.
Ms Eager's body was found by gardaí and members of her family in the bedroom of her home on St Peter's Road, Walkinstown, Dublin, next door to the clinic where she had worked for Mr Newman since the previous year.
The two had also developed a personal relationship but Ms Eager, who was originally from Co Wicklow, had become troubled by this and at the time of her death was contemplating seeking a new job, the jury was told.
Mr Newman, an Indian-born British subject, is being tried at the Inner London Crown Court under UK legislation that allows him to be tried in Britain for a crime allegedly committed in another jurisdiction.
At least 10 gardaí and up to 30 civilian witnesses, most of them from Ireland, as well as the State pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy, are expected to give evidence in the trial, which is scheduled to last for up to five weeks.
Labour TD for Wicklow, Liz McManus, who has questioned why the State did not seek to have Mr Newman extradited to be tried in Ireland, attended the opening of the trial yesterday with members of Ms Eager's family.
Opening the prosecution case, Michael Birnbaum QC told the jury that the Crown would contend that Mr Newman murdered Ms Eager before taking €1,200 from her bank accounts and fleeing to London.
He was arrested there while behaving erratically after asking a taxi driver to take him to Westminster Bridge. He was drunk and had sprayed champagne all over the cab, the driver told police.
Mr Newman had told his ex-wife earlier that night that he had made his biggest mistake ever and was going to commit suicide, Mr Birnbaum said.
It was "common ground", he said, that Ms Eager had died by Mr Newman's hand, but it was the defendant's contention that he had acted in self-defence. However, a doctor who had examined Mr Newman shortly after his arrest found that his only non-self-inflicted wound was a small injury to the back of his right elbow that was a couple of days old.
Mr Birnbaum had earlier told the jury that Ms Eager's body had 21 stab wounds as well as puncture and other wounds when she was found lying face-down on her bed.
Outlining the background to the case, he said Mr Newman had been born in India as Panna Lal Palta. He had changed his name to Saph Dean in 1989 and later, in 2000, by deed poll to Christopher Newman. He referred to himself as "Professor Dean" and described himself as an expert in "factology", which he claimed was the discipline of finding the true cause of diseases. He did, however, have qualifications in treatments including colonic irrigation and massage.
Ms Eager, he said, had graduated from the University of Limerick with a degree in European studies. Her subsequent jobs included that of make-up artist at Brown Thomas in Dublin, before she joined Mr Newman's clinic in Walkinstown in 2002.
She was a very gentle person according to all who knew her, but some friends thought she was "too trusting" at times. It was clear she had regarded Mr Newman as a very learned man and also that the two had developed an intimate relationship.
A number of witnesses would say they saw the two having a row on St Peter's Road in Walkinstown on the night before she was killed. There would also be evidence that, after the row, Mr Newman attended the 78 Club casino in Dublin, where he gambled and "lost his shirt" while making a number of calls to Ms Eager between 3.30am and 4am.
It had been established that Ms Eager was travelling south, presumably to her family in Wicklow, while the calls were made. It appeared she had been persuaded to turn around and go back, said Mr Birnbaum.
She was killed between 6.30am and 9am. The trial continues.