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A former pub chef has today pleaded guilty to the murder of artist Claire Knights.
Harrison Lawrence Van-Pooss, of Craven Close, Margate, had been awaiting trial for the brutal attack on the 54-year-old while she was walking her dog in Minnis Bay, Birchington, on August 23 last year.
The 21-year-old, who has a distinctive facial tattoo of a spider, had previously entered a not-guilty plea to the charge of murder as long ago as April.
But in a plea hearing at Canterbury Crown Court this morning, and after numerous psychiatric and psychological assessments, he finally accepted responsibility for Ms Knights' brutal death.
Lawrence Van-Pooss appeared via video link from high-security Broadmoor Hospital and spoke to confirm his name, date of birth, and to plead guilty.
He will now be sentenced in the new year in a lengthy hearing expected to take up to two days.
Ms Knights' disappearance last year sparked a widespread search by police, the coastguard, Kent Search and Rescue and lifeboat crews, as well as family, friends and the local community, before her body was found in a dyke in Minnis Bay on August 25.
She had been reported missing two days earlier after her dog, a springer spaniel called Zebulon, had been found on the beach with Lawrence Van-Pooss in Minnis Bay.
Her Suzuki car was discovered abandoned in Shuart Lane, St Nicholas at Wade.
Following today’s hearing, a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) statement said Lawrence Van-Pooss “took her dog to a nearby shop to buy treats for it” after the murder, which gave “insight into his mindset”.
It was after it was realised Claire had disappeared that he was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Cause of death was later given as blunt force trauma and drowning. Ms Knights, of Upstreet, Canterbury, and her killer were not known to each other.
Lawrence Van-Pooss had himself been the subject of a Kent Police 'Missing Person' appeal on the evening of August 22.
Earlier that day he had been fired from his job at The Powell bar and restaurant in Birchington after being caught on CCTV using his phone to film up a woman's skirt.
As well as pleading guilty to murder, he has also admitted an offence of operating equipment under clothing to observe another without consent and for the purposes of sexual gratification.
Having been arrested and subsequently charged last year, several court hearings followed with his trial being adjourned at least twice.
Many of Ms Knights' family and friends have attended on each occasion and were again present today.
In a tribute following her death, the mum and well-known member of the Kent art community was described as "a trailblazer in life".
The sculptor's achievements included teaching art in two prisons in the early 1990s and graduating from The Margate School with a masters last year, where she was praised as "outstanding and exceptional".
Prior to events in August last year, Lawrence Van-Pooss had no previous convictions.
His trial had initially been due to start in June but was adjourned at the request of his defence team after several days of legal argument.
It was said on that occasion by prosecutor Alison Morgan KC that Lawrence Van-Pooss had been "manipulating and malingering" proceedings for months.
She said that having previously claimed to have no memory of events, he then gave a "preposterous" account to a medical expert just a week before his trial was due to start, that having met Ms Knights on that fateful day he became "angered" by her making "unwanted" sexual advances towards him.
Ms Morgan described his story as "an elaborate and disgraceful pack of lies" which had been "unbelievably carefully crafted' to address the scientific evidence and provide a reason for why he had acted so violently.
The court was also told that Lawrence Van-Pooss had "exaggerated his symptoms" and made an "extraordinary effort to distort" neuropsychological assessment scores.
Explaining how he had behaved "suspiciously poorly", Ms Morgan argued: "Some of the scores he has achieved are triple that of a diagnosed schizophrenic detained within Broadmoor."
However, his legal team led by Stephen Moses KC argued that more time was required for further assessment and expert opinion in what was "a complex" case with "stakes so high".
With the adjournment granted, a new trial date was fixed for September. However, the case was then delayed for a second time, pushing any potential trial back to March next year.
Today, however, Mr Moses conceded that following a further report it was now accepted that the partial defence of diminished responsibility was not available.
He also told the court that Lawrence Van-Pooss now asserts that his claim about Ms Knights' actions was "a false memory on his part".
Judge Simon James remanded Lawrence Van-Pooss back into custody after he pleaded guilty.
His life sentence and minimum term will be imposed by Mr Justice Garnham, who has presided over previous hearings.
Ms Morgan told the court that notwithstanding the guilty pleas, it was likely that the defence would seek at that hearing "to rely on some suggested mental health issues" in mitigation that would require careful consideration and set against the observations of the prosecution psychiatrist.
Ms Knights' murder has chilling similarities to that of Kent PCSO Julia James in Snowdown, Dover, in April 2021.
She too had been walking her dog alone when she was viciously attacked by a stranger, Callum Wheeler.
Wheeler, then 21 and of Sunshine Corner Avenue, Aylesham, bludgeoned the 53-year-old mum to death in what the prosecution described as a "sexually motivated" killing.
He was also an inpatient at Broadmoor when he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 37 years at Canterbury Crown Court in July 2022.
Natalie Smith, senior prosecutor with this the CPS, said: “We hope that today’s guilty plea brings some small comfort to Claire’s family and friends, knowing that the man who murdered her has finally acknowledged and taken responsibility for his horrendous actions on that fateful day.
“Now that the defence team have had the opportunity to fully consider whether Harrison Lawrence-Van Pooss had any mental health defence to the charge of murder, they have agreed with the prosecution expert witness that he does not have any defence available to him.
“This has finally, after all these months of uncertainty, led to today’s guilty plea to the murder of Claire Knights.
“Sadly Claire’s murder is a tragic reminder of the violence against women and girls which exists in our society today. At the CPS, our role is to bring the perpetrators of that violence to justice and today that has been delivered.
“Our thoughts remain very much with everyone who knew Claire at this exceptionally difficult time.”