Murdered barmaid India Chipchase’s hair was ‘displayed’ above her head says cop who found her body
Desperate cops begged 'sweetheart, can you wake up?' after finding the 20-year-old's lifeless body
MURDERED India Chipchase's hair was placed around her head "like a halo" after she was throttled to death, the policeman who found her body has said.
Jurors were today shown harrowing body-cam footage of the moment officers find the 20-year-old's lifeless body at Edward Tennison's Northampton home.
PC Steven Knight, who found the young woman's corpse, can be heard screaming: "Sweetheart, can you wake up?" as he leans over her body.
Northampton Police broke down the door of Tenniswood's home on the afternoon of January 31 - two days after India was reported missing after a night out with friends.
Giving evidence, the officer said: "The door was breached. I went straight up the stairs to the landing, right and then right again into the front bedroom.
"As I got to the doorway I could see a mattress in front of me with a blanket on the top of it and items around the edge of the room."
PC Knight said he initially mistook India's hair for fur when he discovered her body lying on the mattress.
He said: "As I got closer I could see the hair was displayed, instead of being down it was pulled up and around. Sort of like a halo.
"I took the left hand side corner of the blanket off and pulled it over so I could see the face and pulled it, probably down to the shoulder."
Heartbreaking footage shows Knight leaning over India and shouting: "One casualty. Can you get a paramedic?"
He then asks: "Sweetheart, can you wake up? Hello? Sweetheart?
"She's gone. S*** s*** s***. She's gone."
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A female officer is then heard saying: "She's gone. Oh no. She's gone."
The disturbing scenes came after the footage showed officers forcing down the door to Tenniswood's home, before running in shouting: "Police. Police."
Bookkeeper Tenniswood denies raping and killing the young barmaid.
The court heard earlier in the week the 52-year-old had previously tried to forcibly kiss and throttled another teenage girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Samuel Stein QC, defending, today asked PC Knight: "You were saying words to the effect of 'Wake up, wake up it's the police'.
"When you saw India Chipchase, she appeared to be in such a natural position she might have been asleep?"
PC Knight said: "Yes."
The prosecution alleges Tenniswood lured vulnerable India away from the nightclub she had been at with friends after she was denied entry.
He is accused of taking advantage of the barmaid, who had been drinking with friends, and steering her back to his nearby flat at around 2am.
Friends assumed India had gone home on her own after she disappeared from the nightclub.
Patrick Francis said he witnessed the pair going into Tenniswood's home from a nearby garage.
He told the court on Tuesday: “I got out of the car and I saw two people by the side of the fence on my side of the road about five or six feet away.
“She seemed as if she was drunk, she was holding onto the railings.
“The guy who was with her was standing there by her side. She was in her 20s, he was older.
“His right arm was round her side. I thought it was strange that he heard me pull up and I said ‘alright’ and he didn’t even turn round.
“He started to help her across the road, he had her by the arm. He didn’t seem drunk.
“I saw they went and went into a house a way down the street. He unlocked the door and let her in – she went in first and he went in after her.”
The trial continues.
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