Harrison Lawrence Van-Poss assaulted and killed Claire Knights in Birchington a few hours after being fired for ascent

A pub chef assaulted sexually and brutally killed a woman walking her dog in a few hours after being fired from work for Upskirting.

Harrison Lawrence Van-Poss, 21, was armed with a knife when Claire Knights ambushed and then subjected her to a violent beating in what was an unprovocated foreign attack, while walking with Springer Spaniel in Minis Bay, Birchington, on August 23, 2023.

Canterbury Crown Court has heard today that the 54 -year -old talented artist was the victim of a “powerful” man who was looking for a vulnerable woman and that when she was brutally violated, his intention was to rape her.

The cause of death was given as a blunt and drowned trauma after suffering multiple fractures at the head and face, as well as traumatic brain lesions, before being thrown, deeply unconscious, but still alive, in a nearby dam.

Subsequently, a pathologist came to the conclusion that her wounds, including fractures at the jaw, cheeks and eye socket, as well as a “hinge” fracture at the base of her skull, would have been caused with severe fists, stamps or repeated stamps.

Mrs. Knights also supported neck bruises and thighs in accordance with the fact that she was detained by her life attacker.

Less than 24 hours earlier, her criminal, who has a distinctive face tattooed with spider, was caught using her phone to film under another woman’s skirt at Powell Bar and restaurant in the city, where she worked.

After being fired and the police alerted, he went out, taking his cook’s knife and believed he was camping overnight in a layer near the place where he would face Mrs. Knights as she returned to her car from a beach with her dog, Zeb.

Subsequently, the police were able to establish from various observations, CCTV and stories of eyewitnesses, that Mrs. Knights, who lived with her partner, Stuart Hume, and her son Elliot Knights from Upstreet, Canterbury, were last seen leaving the beach at 16:30, and until 5:00 pm.

Her disappearance has sparked a large -scale search by the police, the coastal guard, Kent Search and Rescue and crews for rescue boats, as well as family, friends and the local community.

Her car Suzuki was found abandoned in Shuart Lane, St Nicolae La Wade and, unfortunately, her son was the tragic discovery of her body on the evening of August 25.

Mrs. Knights, who also drove a dog business, and Lawrence Van-Poss, then 20 years old and by Craven Close, Margate, were not known by each other.

In December last year, he pleaded guilty of murder offenses and operating equipment under clothing to observe another without consent and for the purpose of sexual thanks.

But his admission came only after the repeated postponement of the court – including at least two data scheduled data – and numerous psychiatric and psychological assessments, while they are detained in the High Security Broadmoor Hospital.

It is now accepted that, although he has a personality disorder, he does not suffer from psychosis and did not have a psychotic episode at that time.

Before the growth incident and then the killing of Mrs. Knights, Lawrence Van-Poss had no convictions.

Today, at a two-day sentence in front of Mr. Justice Garnham and a courtroom full of Mrs. Knights, Lawrence Van-Poss, flanked by four members of the Broadmoor staff and two court officers.

Currently, the last moments in the life of his victim, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said: “The defendant has ambushed the Knights Claire, as he was walking back on an isolated way to the place where he parked his car.

“The defendant was a vast and powerful man. He was a single woman, wearing bathing and flip-flops. He was armed with a knife.

“The Claire knights must have been terrified and survived by the defendant.

“The precise sequence of the final moments of Claire Knights are only known by the defendant. The evidence shows that he has overwhelmed it, forcing it, before committing violent sexual assault on it.

“Then he beat her, brutal, repetitive and fatal. The strength of these strokes would have made the Claire knights quickly unconsciously.

“The nature of the blows, which follows from the sexual assault, demonstrates a clear intention to kill. The defendant assumed that he had successfully killed it.

“He then threw her body into the nearby pier. In the final result, Claire Knights took her final breath when she faced in the water, as it was demonstrated by inhaling water.

“The defendant thought to hide what he had done. Covering some evidence, taking over Claire’s dog’s dog and, finally, throwing her body in a pier, where big herbs and Bulushes meant that she was hidden from sight.”

Although he did not suffer any injury to the knife, Mrs. Morgan continued: “The criminal case is that the defendant used that knife to terrify and control Claire Knights.

“This defendant is a huge physical presence, as they would be presented on the way to Claire. It was 5ft 6in, Slim Build.

“It is inevitable that she was terrified, intimidated and excessive by him and it is inevitable that her terror inhibits any realistic options she had in an attempt to escape.

“He wore a bikini and the sun hat, had a dog with her, but Ze was not a defensive dog. It was a benign presence and went with the defendant. And Mrs. Knights wore flip-flops.”

Regarding the fact that it is a premeditated attack, not Mrs. Knights, but on a single woman, the court has heard that Lawrence Van-Poss met more people in that day, being a hot and crowded summer day.

Mrs. Morgan added that her rape intention could be deduced by the subsequent DNA results and the fact that the victim’s bikini bottoms were partially removed.

The prosecutor told the court: “The defendant is waiting in the area. There were other observations and there were a lot of people in that area that were not attacked that day, but this single woman who bears her swimming suit that has become attacked.

“It was a premeditated, sexually motivated attack on a single woman. There were a number of men who went in this way that the defendant just passed and were not attacked by him,” said Mrs. Morgan.

Asked by Mr. Justice Garnham if there were women on that day, she continued: “We have no evidence of a single woman. There were couples.

“We have no evidence of a single woman or a single woman wearing flip-flops and a swimming suit as was Claire Knights.”

The yard heard that Lawrence Van-Poss was working in Powell on the evening of August 22, 2023, when he was caught on CCTV, recording with his phone.

The owner was informed and plundered Lawrence Van-Poss, telling him that the police were alerted.

After leaving the pub around 8.30, he left home, performed an internet search on the offense of sketching before packing a backpack and leaving.

At that time, he lived with his fiancée Aurora Lawrence. After leaving his house, he sent a message shortly before 22:00, saying “goodbye. I love you. I never wanted anything from it.

Concerned for his well -being, he raised the alarm on social media and alerted the Kent police, who launched a “missing person” call to find him.

The court heard, although he had the phone with him and worked, he did not respond to any call from those who seek it.

However, various observations of his on August 23 – Crime Day – included him working at Fit Union Gym in Birchington, shortly after 5.45.

It was also seen in the Kent Gardens area, around 7.15, and then going to the Nether Hale farm just before 11.30.

Until 14:00, the criminal prosecution says that it was in the area of ​​a refuge, close to a railway and crossing, and where Mrs. Knights will be attacked and killed and killed in less than three hours later and lasted more than 10 minutes.

In a tribute as a result of his death, the well-known member of the Kent art community was described as “a trailblazer in life”.

The sculptor’s achievements included the teaching of art in two prisons in the early 1990s and the graduation of the Margate school with a master’s degree last year, where it was praised as “exceptional and exceptional”.