A man who thought his partner was the devil throttled her, dressed in women's clothes then cried to police "I am Gladys", a court heard.

Keith Solly believed Yvonne Tapp was possessed by the devil and out to kill him, a court heard today.

He then piled furniture high on top of Yvonne Tapp’s body and made bizarre phone calls to the police and relatives, it was alleged.

When police officers went to the couple’s home in Southborough Solly was wearing women’s clothes. He opened a window and declared: “I am Gladys.”

In separate bizarre calls to police before the body was discovered on December 5 last year, Solly was said to have sung 'Oh my darling Clementine' to a police call operator.

Prosecutor Philipa McAtasney told a jury at Maidstone Crown Court that psychiatrists had concluded that Solly, 62, was suffering from such abnormality of the mind when he killed the 58-year-old grandmother that he was insane at the time.

“The law provides for a jury in such a case as this to return a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity” - Prosecutor Philipa McAtasney

“The law provides for a jury in such a case as this to return a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity,” she said.

“If this is the case, the defendant is to be dealt with by way of treatment in a mental health institution.”

Jurors will be asked to decide whether Solly “did the acts” that caused Mrs Tapp’s death.

“If you are sure he did the acts then he is not guilty of murder by reason of insanity at the time,” said Miss McAtasney.

Dressed in a grey suit, Solly sat in the dock flanked by two mental health nurses.

The court heard he and Mrs Tapp met when they were both receiving care from the mental health service Priority House in Maidstone in December 2013.

They became friends and then started a relationship. Solly moved into Mrs Tapp’s flat in Lady’s Gift Road following his release from Priority House.

There was a suggestion they were engaged by November last year, although she was still married to Paul Tapp.

Miss McAtasney said Solly was acting strangely in the days before the alleged killing.

He hired a Morgan sports car and made a reservation for him and Mrs Tapp at a Gravesend hotel but then went missing and went alone to two hotels in Essex.

The tape of a brief phone call made by Mrs Tapp at 12.13pm on December 5 was played to the jury.

During it she can be heard talking to Solly, telling him: “You have let me down.” He is heard to reply: “Have I?” She adds: “Can I have the police please.”

The police tried to contact her and sent a message to her mobile phone telling her to make contact if she needed assistance.

At 12.33pm, Solly’s daughter Joanna Wickens was left a message in which Mrs Tapp could be heard screaming and panting and saying: “Please. I have wet myself.” A man was heard breathing heavily.

Solly then made a series of bizarre calls to the police.

In one he stated he was “undercover priority”. He added: “I definitely need your help. Can you please come to 72 Lady’s Gift Road, Southborough.”

He asked for the operator’s surname and when she replied she was not allowed to give it out, he replied: “Right, bye.”

At 1.31pm, he called the police and mimicked the operator’s Irish accent and started singing Oh My Darling Clementine. He swore at her.

In another call he said: “Give yourself up to the local police station. It won’t be bad on you. Go and do it now. Now ---- off.”

The police called him back and he repeated everything said to him. He started singing and told the caller: “Go and give yourself up darling.”

Solly left a message on his daughter’s phone saying: “Why oh why? Oh my God why? In another call to her he sang Coming home for Christmas and added: “You know I love you.”

In a further abandoned 999 call at 1.58pm, he simply says “Boo of no”.

The prosecutor said two officers went to the flat at 3.20pm and could hear a television or radio inside. They knocked on the door but there was no answer.

They went to the rear and saw Solly at a window crossing himself and shouting incoherently.

He opened the window slowly and declared: “I am Gladys.” He was wearing women’s clothes. He told the officers: “Leave while you have still got the chance. Go.”

Asked who else lived at the flat, Solly said Yvonne Tapp did. Asked where she was, he replied: “She has ------ off.” He added: “She is in the shed.”

The officer checked the shed but there was no one there. Solly confirmed he had mental health problems. He started throwing things out of the window.

He passed bank cards and his mobile phone to the officer. She contacted Solly’s daughter Joanna Wickens, who confirmed that Mrs Tapp also lived at the flat.

The other officer saw that the flat had been ransacked and was “a total mess”. He then saw feet and discoloured legs.

“He could see a body with some injury,” said Miss McAtasney. “The torso had been covered in a mountain of items of furniture and rubbish. The body seemed motionless.”

The officers called for assistance and an ambulance. Solly, meanwhile, started throwing food from the freezer out of the window.

The door was broken open and the body was found under furniture including a book shelf, Hoover and table, about a metre high.

Mrs Tapp was face down wearing a shirt and three-quarter length jeans. She had minor cuts and a head injury. There was blood in her hair.

She was not breathing and did not have a pulse. An officer performed CPR on her until paramedics arrived. CPR lasted for 30 minutes before she was declared dead.

When arrested, Solly pleaded: “Don’t hurt me.” When cautioned, he asked: “She is dead, is she?” On the way to Tonbridge police station he spoke incoherently.

He was seen by a psychiatric nurse and deemed unfit to be interviewed. “He was clearly unwell,” said Miss McAtasney.

A post mortem examination indicated Mrs Tapp died from asphyxiation and compression of the chest. She had numerous injuries which did not contribute to her death.

The death was known as “Burking”, named after William Burke who killed victims, leaving hardly any marks by straddling their chests, said Miss McAtasney.

Solly was transferred from prison to a secure hospital, where he has remained.

“He suffers from bipolar effective disorder, which is a manic depressive disorder,” said the prosecutor.

“He believed, and still believes, his girlfriend had become possessed by the devil and wished to kill him. He still believes he had no choice but to act as he did.

“He described getting her in a stranglehold. He said he picked up an elephant statue and hit her on the head. He believed he had to do this as he was fighting the devil.

“She fell on the floor. She was trying to get up. He put things on her, including a television and clothes. He described it as: ‘It just stopped moving.’”