Ex-soldier accused of double murder was attempting ‘suicide by cop’, trial told

Craig Savage allegedly murdered 32-year-old Michelle Savage and her mother, Heather Whitbread, 53, and killed Mrs Savage’s dog with a stolen M4 semi-automatic rifle.

The 35-year-old lorry driver is accused of firing at them from close range in Mrs Whitbread’s home in St Leonards, East Sussex, about a month after her daughter spurned him and refused to reconcile.

Savage, who denies two counts of murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, told jurors at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday “it was my fault”, but argued the pair were shot accidentally during a struggle.

The defendant, bearded and wearing a navy suit with no tie, said he was “losing it” over the break-up and was looking for a “way out” through police shooting him during a kidnap.

“The break-up wasn’t the straw that broke the camel’s back, it was a wrecking ball that broke the camel’s back,” he said.

He travelled from a friend’s home in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, and stole the weapon from the 1066 Target Sports gun range at gunpoint on March 16.

Savage then went to the Bexhill Road home where, he claimed, the plan to be killed in a hostage situation went awry after he shot his way through a window.

“Michelle came running at me like a rhino charging a red rag – bang straight into me, no hesitation, no fear,” he said.

“On seeing a whacked-out nut-job falling through the window with a gun, her first instinct would be to protect her family and she did.”

She smashed into him and five rounds went off, he said, before she fled to the hallway where the struggle continued and she sprayed him with CS gas.

“She grabbed the rifle. Bang. Bang. Weapon going off everywhere,” he said.

Prosecutor Benjamin Aina QC pulled holes in Savage’s story, however, and suggested he went there with a plan to rape his wife, but ended up executing her as she kneeled, begging for mercy.

Mr Aina asked why did Savage not drop the weapon or disable it during the breaks in shooting, why did all the shots in the home hit a living target if they were fired in a struggle, and why did he need to take a real gun?

“They are probably not going to shoot me if I’m standing there with a water pistol,” the defendant replied.

Savage, who told jurors he had weapons training in his three years in the Army after joining at 16, said he saw the two women motionless on the floor before leaving – but did not call medics.

Also in the house were Mrs Savage’s heavily pregnant sister, Raven Whitbread, 24, their grandmother Patricia Groves, 80, and the Staffordshire bull terrier, Zeus.

Those two women escaped the .22 calibre rifle fire and called police.

Mrs Savage was shot six times and her mother seven, and the gun had been pressed close to them and fired in an “execution-type manner”, prosecutors claim.

It is alleged that Savage attempted to fire at an officer trying to apprehend, him but the mechanism jammed.

In the preceding weeks, Mrs Savage is said to have warned Sussex Police of the threat posed by her husband.

They had a nine-year relationship, which included five years of marriage, and Savage was described as a “very controlling” partner who would bombard his wife with calls and texts.

Savage, of no fixed address, has admitted robbery at the firing range.

The trial, presided over by High Court judge Mrs Justice McGowan, continues on Friday.