Christmas Common 'murder': What happened on day one of Daniel O'Hara Wright's trial

The case is so harrowing that Judge Ian Pringle QC, the honorary recorder of Oxford, warned would-be jurors before they were sworn in that the details would be ‘quite upsetting’ – and gave them a chance to voluntarily recuse themselves from the trial.

Here’s a summary of what happened yesterday.

Walk in the woods

Opening the case for the prosecution, Alan Blake told jurors that Daniel O’Hara Wright, now 24, and his 62-year-old mum Carole had driven from their home in Uxbridge, west London, to Watlington Hill, Christmas Common, on October 23, 2020.

During the lockdown, the pair had become keen walkers. The previous day, they had travelled to Surrey beauty spot Virginia Water and posed for happy selfies together.

Leaving Uxbridge at around 1.40pm, they arrived at the National Trust woodland off the M40 around an hour later. They had previously enjoyed a walk in the area previously.

Mrs Wright’s body was later found in woodland around 400m to 500m from the National Trust car park. 

Pathologist Dr Lockyer concluded Mrs Wright died as a result of an 'exceptionally violent and sustained assault'. She suffered blunt force trauma to her neck and chest. A crushing injury to her ribcage suggested that her chest had been stamped on.

One of her eyeballs had been forced down her throat, the jury heard. Another eyeball was later found in the pocket of her son's discarded camouflage coat.

A broken glass bottle of kombucha, a fermented tea of which the defendant was fond, was thought to have caused some of the injuries.

Witnesses who were walking in the woods at around 2.30-2.40pm described hearing shouts and seeing a man and a woman’s naked leg. “His eyes were horrible red circles,” Linda Grace said in a statement read to the court.

Forensics officers at the scene of the alleged murder last year

Defendant ‘fled cross country’

The alleged attacker was said to have run across country after the attack – discarding some of his clothing on the way.

He jumped in front of a car, hitting the bonnet and windscreen. He told the driver of the car he had fallen from the sky and asked if she believed in god. They drove a short distance before he leapt from the vehicle after a tussle over her bag, it was said.

O’Hara Wright made his way to a nearby detached house and let himself in while the occupants were in a sauna or pool.

Police officers, who had been called out by the terrified driver, were by this point searching for an injured man.

The officers found the bloodied defendant in the bathroom of the house. He had electrocuted his right arm, which later had to be amputated, and he’d slashed himself with a knife found in the farmhouse.

“I have hurt my mum,” he was said to have told the first responders. Later arrested on suspicion of murder, O’Hara Wright replied: “That’s fine, I understand.”

Hospital

He was taken to the intensive care unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

On November 1, 2020, he allegedly spat faeces at a PC Ben Lewis. The next day he was said to have used the handle of a spoon to try and stab nurse Sergio Juarez in the neck before turning the cutlery item on himself.

File image of John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford Picture: ED NIX

Obsessed by conspiracy theories

The defendant’s father, older brother and sister described him becoming increasingly obsessed with conspiracy theories in the years leading up to his mother’s death.

O’Hara Wright’s brother, Martin, said it was ‘pointless’ trying to argue with him about the theories.

He had become so enraged when his father Miles questioned him about the QAnon conspiracy, whose proponents believe Donald Trump will break up a paedophile ring that counts Barack Obama and Joe Biden among its members, O’Hara Wright was said to have kicked a fan, stormed out of the family home in Uxbridge and was later found having torn off his shirt.

On one occasion the family, who live near RAF Northolt, had been woken up by a circling plane. Daniel was said to have told them: "I think it's here for me. I know stuff the government doesn't want me to know."

The defendant’s sister was shocked by his behaviour when she took him out for a meal in early March. The other family members were away on a skiing holiday in Austria. The defendant, who had shaved off his hair and beard, told his sister he was an ‘inter-dimensional shaman’.

In another incident, he was said to have eaten seeds he’d ordered online then walked around the house naked. “I’ve taken nature. I’m enlightened,” he was said to have told his family.

He was 'into spiritual things' and had been interested in gnosticism, the belief that human beings contain a piece of God, his brother said.

READ MORE: Live updates from National Trust woodland 'murder' trial at Oxford Crown Court

Loving son

Despite his increasing obsession with conspiracies, the defendant was described by his family as a loving son.

Dad Miles wrote in his statement, read to the jury on Monday afternoon: "Daniel and Carole got on very, very well. I have never known them even to have an argument. Daniel would often leave notes for his mum around the house, telling her he loved her.”

Key issue in case

Mr Blake, for the prosecution, explained yesterday that a key question for the jury would be O’Hara Wright’s mental state at the time of the alleged murder.

Psychiatrists had assessed the defendant, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia after the incident last October. They concluded he’d been suffering delusions at the time of the alleged murder and was insane.

However, the prosecutor said it would be for the jury to decide whether the defendant was not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.

“You will need to consider the opinions of the expert psychiatrists instructed by the defence and the prosecution and determine whether you accept their assessments that Daniel was suffering from a severe mental disorder at the time and that he was probably legally insane," he said.

"If you do find that he did kill Carole but was probably insane at the time then the correct verdict is one of not guilty by reason of insanity.

“That decision is not one for doctors. It is not one for lawyers. It is one for you, informed and assisted by the experts who will give evidence before you.”

Forensics officers at the scene of the alleged murder last year

Absent defendant

O’Hara Wright, formerly of Regent Avenue, Uxbridge, denies one count of murder.

Judge Pringle explained to the jury that the defendant had been excused from attending the trial. Mr Blake said O’Hara Wright was resident at Broadmoor secure hospital in Dartmoor.

The trial continues.

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