Roderick Deakin-White confessed to killing Amy Parsons by repeatedly hitting her with a metal 'chin up' bar. Photo / Facebook
Roderick Deakin-White confessed to killing Amy Parsons by repeatedly hitting her with a metal 'chin up' bar. Photo / Facebook
A UK court has heard how a self-confessed cross-dresser battered his Australian fiancee to death when she issued him an ultimatum to stop dressing in women's underwear and make-up when they had sex.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard how Roderick Deakin-White, 38, had confessed to killing Amy Parsons, 35, by repeatedly hitting her with a metal bar as she showered at their east London apartment, the Daily Mail reports.
Deakin-White admitted to regularly cross-dressing at home, saying he used it as escapism and telling jurors that Parsons would sometimes buy underwear for him and "embrace it".
The court also heard of tensions in the couple's relationship. Photo / Facebook
He said that their eight-year relationship had been happy until the start of this year when Parsons returned to the UK following a trip home to Australia.
Tensions stemming from his unemployment plagued the relationships, as well as conflict over his cross-dressing, which Deakin-White told the court was always "the elephant in the room".
He said that he fully "stopped doing it" and the couple hoped to "start afresh" in Australia.
He told the court that when his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer he began to wear women's clothing again and felt he was "pushing Amy away with that".
"It was something Amy could not get her head around. It is something I have done for so long, I just do it."
He added: "It was always a private thing for me to do behind closed doors.
"I am ashamed of it, I have always been ashamed of it. I have never understood it.
"It is usually just underwear. It is comfort and escapism. It is not something I did all the time, but I did do it when we had sex."
The court also heard how Deakin-White had previously made a closed Facebook profile in the name of a woman, dressed as a woman, but that it was closed before he met Parsons.
The court heard that as the relationship broke down, Parsons became closer to a male work colleague, leaving Deakin-White feeling "heartbroken".
Roderick Deakin-White and Amy Parsons had been together for eight years. Photo / Facebook
On April 26 they discussed breaking up before Parsons took a shower.
As she showered, Deakin-White said he "lost control" and grabbed a metal chin-up bar, violently assaulting her until she had "funny breathing".
Deakin-White was founded by police walking the streets of Tottenham hours later, telling officers that he was "a f***ing murderer" when confronted.
Police went to the apartment, finding Parsons dead in the bath with significant injuries.
