Serial-killer obsessed woman ‘stabbed lover to death as he slept then giggled as she called friend’

A mother obsessed with serial killers ‘laughed’ after brutally stabbing her lover before video calling a friend to show him the body, a court heard today.

Shaye Groves, 27, who had framed portraits of notorious assassins including Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer on her bedroom wall, reportedly told a friend: “I’ve done it” after launching an attack on her sleeping boyfriend , Frankie Fitzgerald.

The mother-of-one, who owned a set of decorative knives embellished with movie villains, used sharp items in the bedroom to “play with knives,” and relished masochism, bondage, and submission with Fitzgerald at their Havant home. .

Groves, who denies the murder, is alleged to have stabbed her boyfriend 22 times in a “crime of passion” on July 17 last year before creating a “false alibi” using true crime documentaries as inspiration.

Groves and Fitzgerald had rekindled an old relationship after meeting at a pub in Cosham, Hampshire, in January last year.

The court heard how Groves became “obsessed” with Mr Fitzgerald’s “bedroom performance”, with the couple’s sex life involving bondage, domination, submission and masochism.

Jurors heard at Winchester Crown Court today that after the murder, Groves video called his friend Vikki Baitup, who was horrified to see his body with a ‘huge’ knife wound.

Groves had allegedly sent Ms Baitup a message in the early morning hours of July 17 in which she hoped to create a “false alibi” by claiming that Fitzgerald had left her home.

Ms Baitup told police how she received a phone call from a ‘laughing’ Groves who had a ‘very normal conversation’ discussing their weekend.

Groves then proceeded to initiate a video call, where he went upstairs to his bedroom and pointed the camera at Fitzgerald before saying, “I’ve done it,” the court heard.

The jury listened as Mrs Baitup, who “couldn’t believe it was real”, asked the couple if they were “tricking me”, to which Groves went back upstairs to her room to show her the body of Mr Fitzgerald, wrapped up. in a duvet and lying down. in garbage bags – twice as much.

At one point during the call, when Ms. Baitup raised her voice, Groves told her “shhh, the kids are in the house.”

Ms Baitup continued: ‘Groves got very close to the wound.

‘I don’t think I really caught what happened before. The wound was so deep… it was huge.

Responding to Groves’ “calm” explanation of what had happened, that she had checked her phone and saw that she was texting “a teenage girl”, Ms Baitup said: “While he was sleeping, she put a knife through his neck. the dagger and that’s when he woke up.

He was asleep, she wasn’t even in danger. I could understand if he was attacking her, but she told me that he was asleep and she couldn’t even defend herself against her.

Jurors heard from Ms Baitup that Groves had four ‘decorative’ knives hanging on the wall for her and Mr Fitzgerald as they ‘both played with knives when it came to having sex’.

The four knives had depictions of Chuckie, Jigsaw and Pennywise and hung near two axes, all of which were “easily accessible to anyone”.

Ms Baitup told the court that Groves had “seen enough murder documentaries” to know that her plan to bury Mr Fitzgerald’s body “in the backyard” would not work.

Such was his interest in killers that Groves had framed portraits of notorious serial killers, including Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, according to Baitup.

Jurors heard from Ms. Baitup that Groves was also known to “carry a knife” with her “for safety” when walking alone at night.

At the end of the call, Ms Baitup said Groves’s last words were ‘we’re still friends, aren’t we?’

The court heard a pathologist’s report explaining that Mr. Fitzgerald was stabbed 17 times in the front of the chest, twice in other areas of the chest and three times in the neck, resulting in his death after “multiple perforations of the heart and lungs” and “catastrophic”. loss of blood’.

Footage of officers arriving on scene was previously played to the court, who reported an “incredibly strong” bleach odor in the bedroom.

Groves could be heard saying: ‘I was going to call you myself. I don’t know what the hell happened.

She also claimed that he tried to hurt her and said that she had video footage of him raping and attacking her.

‘He is dead. He’s in my room, he’s a mess, he really is a mess.

‘I still took someone’s life. The knife I used is in the sink – the cut on his neck is pretty brutal, when I put it to his neck he turned around.

Groves denies the murder, claiming he acted in self-defense.

The trial, which is expected to last four weeks, continues.