Man, 52, admits raping and murdering ‘vulnerable’ woman after taking her back to his flat 

A man pleaded guilty to assaulting, raping and murdering a woman he met in a college health and wellness course after “giving her alcoholic beverages” for their own ‘sexual enjoyment’.

Simon Goold, 52, could face life in prison following the death of Elizabeth McCann, 26, who was brutally attacked on August 24 last year.

The couple met on a course at the Health and Wellbeing College in Ashton-under-Lyne and met in the pub just hours before Goold strangled her to death in her flat.

Goold bought McCann, who was on medication and rarely drank alcohol, several rounds of vodka and coke, along with numerous shots of Sambuca, before taking her home in a taxi.

It was during the return journey that Goold sexually assaulted her, before raping her in her flat and then using a T-shirt to strangle her, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Nick Johnson KC said Goold had assaulted her when she was “quite incapable of consent” and enjoyed “inducing her fear”.

He said: ‘This is a case of a man in his 50s targeting a much younger woman in her 20s whom he knew to be vulnerable, filling her with enough alcohol to get her drunk, sexually assaulting her in a taxi when she she was quite unable to consent, then when he returns to her apartment, he carries out more brutal sexual assaults and rapes, leaving her with serious and significant injuries.

The indictment says that the defendant took sexual pleasure in his humiliation, a pleasure in inflicting pain and hurt and inducing his fear. This sexual gratification came to his greatest satisfaction by murdering her that night in her apartment, probably by pulling her own T-shirt tight around her neck, maintaining such pressure for a considerable period, first causing her unconsciousness and then then death.

On the first day of the trial at Manchester Crown Court, Elizabeth, known to her family as ‘Lizzie’, was said to be receiving mental health help at Ashton-under-Lyne college, where she met Goold. in a course.

On August 19 last year, the two were at a university coffee morning and days later, Goold did several searches for her name on Facebook before texting her and asking to meet her at the Star Inn pub.

The couple met on the afternoon of 24 August, after which he bought her vodka and coke, served in a double measure by the owner, and Goold bought himself a pint of Strongbow.

They remained in the beer garden for several hours, during which Goold returned to the bar three times and ordered another double of vodka and Coke, as well as three six-shot rounds of Sambuca.

Johnson continued: “At 4:07pm, CCTV shows Ms McCann staggering through the beer garden before sitting down and downing three drinks.

‘The defendant then moves a fourth drink towards her; he’s not having drinks right now. That was before he ordered the third round.

In the footage, she is seen falling several times and appears to stagger before leaving the pub with Goold.

The 52-year-old woman is also shown leaning her against a wall before they both get into a taxi. with the driver describing her as ‘out of it’.

Goold was heard telling the driver: ‘Don’t worry about it, she’s just drunk.’

Throughout the journey, he was said to be ‘kissing’ Ms McCann’s neck and touching her intimately as she stared straight ahead, unresponsive and ‘lifeless’.

They arrived at her apartment shortly before 5pm and Mrs McCann is seen to fall before Goold led her inside.

After only 15 minutes, he had taken explicit photos and videos of her with his mobile phone.

In several of the videos described to the jury, Ms McCann appeared to have clothing around her neck. She can also be heard saying that it was “really painful”.

Neighbors told police they heard banging, arguing and crying overnight, and one of them later received a text from Goold asking for help.

The neighbor went upstairs and found Mrs. McCann naked and unconscious on the floor.

They helped her move to bed, during which Goold told them that she was too drunk. After they left, he took another photo of her, she listened to the court.

“Some time elapsed between taking that photo and the next morning that she was subjected to severe genital injuries and killed by prolonged strangulation,” Johnson said.

“The prosecution says that these facts clearly demonstrate that the defendant obtained a sexual thrill by causing severe pain, humiliation and fear. It supports the prosecution’s case that his motive for the sexual assault, rape and murder of Elizabeth was the gratification of an extremely sadistic sexual desire.

The next morning, August 25, Goold called 999 and said there was a “dead woman in his bed”.

Officers arrived at her apartment to find Ms. McCann partially dressed with her T-shirt, sneakers and mobile phone neatly placed nearby.

In a postmortem report, a pathologist found that she had suffered 46 external and internal injuries, including ligature marks on her neck.

It was suggested that these marks could have been caused by a tight undershirt around his neck.

Goold, of Manchester Road, Ashton-under-Lyne, initially denied the crimes of murder, rape, sexual assault and penetrative assault, but after the first day of his trial pleaded guilty to all offences.

Following his statement, CPS’s Craig Cleminson said: “Simon Goold deliberately harassed Elizabeth McCann with alcoholic beverages for a short period of time, before taking her back to his apartment with the intent of exploiting her vulnerable state for his own sexual gratification. “. .

Throughout the case, he claimed that Elizabeth had fully consented to everything that happened to her and that he had no intention of causing her harm. But on the second day of the trial he finally pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting, raping and murdering her.

‘I cannot begin to imagine the sense of loss Elizabeth’s family is experiencing; I would like to express my condolences to you. Nothing can bring her back, but I hope they feel comfortable that Goold has been brought to justice for taking her from them.

He will be sentenced tomorrow where he faces life in prison.