Murder accused ‘eager to please in bed’

An ex-bookkeeper accused of raping and murdering a barmaid has told a jury his “over-eagerness” to satisfy her in bed caused her death.

Edward Tenniswood said he inadvertently throttled India Chipchase, on a mattress in an upstairs bedroom of his squalid terraced house, through “inexperience and incompetence”.

Tenniswood told Birmingham Crown Court: “I, in my over-eagerness to please her, either sustained the pressure just too long or just gripped too tightly.”

He added: “Without the guidance of her hands — and I was eager to please — obviously I sustained the pressure too long and that obviously caused the death, in retrospect.”

The 52-year-old said he failed to notice her body was lifeless, despite refastening the 20-year-old’s bra and reclothing her, while he was wearing surgical-type latex gloves.

Instead of raising the alarm, he went out to get a kebab and then spent the next 22 hours drinking lager, in an Ibis hotel, until police arrested him.

Tenniswood is said by the Crown to have raped and throttled Ms Chipchase, after chancing upon her outside Northampton’s NB’s nightclub, in the early hours of January 30, and taking her in a cab back to his house.

On the eighth day of his trial, Tenniswood also claimed he had once dated a famous fashion model, after he was asked why he kept newspaper clippings of “pretty girls” in his rented home.

Asked about four photos he kept as “ornaments” in his kitchen, he replied: “They remind me of ex-girlfriends.”

Tenniswood said: “I’ve had a hugely unsuccessful life, but have been very lucky and had some very attractive ex-girlfriends.”

Tenniswood also claimed that he once had a relationship with a cover girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons.