Shaye Groves: 'Cold' murderer had ‘macabre fascination with serial killers and murder documentaries’, say CPS who welcome 23 year life sentence

Groves, 27, created a web of lies in a bid to get away with the murder of 25-year-old Frankie Fitzgerald. The mum-of-one stabbed him multiple times with a dagger in her Leigh Park bedroom in Botley Drive and left him to die without calling for any medical help during the early hours of July 17 last year.

READ NOW: Shaye Groves sentenced to life

Marie Watton, CPS Wessex senior Crown prosecutor, speaking following the sentence at Winchester Crown Court, said: ‘Shaye Groves had a macabre fascination with serial killers and murder documentaries. She had pictures of serial killers on her walls, owned many gangster books, and watched murder documentaries.

‘This meant that she was familiar with what to do and say to try and engineer a situation where she would look like a victim, which of course completely unravelled in the face of the evidence collected from key witnesses, mobile phones, call data and CCTV recordings.’

Among the evidence that was given throughout the course of the trial, the court heard that in the hours after killing Frankie, Groves video-called her friend, and showed her Frankie’s body wrapped in a duvet – as well as sending her friend additional videos of her and Frankie.

Later police investigations found that Groves had been a willing participant in rough sexual activity, and that she had cleverly edited the video clips to create a false impression of rape and manipulate her friend into believing her lies.

Witness testimony proved that Groves had admitted sending numerous messages to a friend to fabricate an alibi for the murder. It was also proved that she had taken measures to cover her tracks by cleaning the crime scene.

Mobile phone analysis found that Groves had sent messages to another man, inviting him over to spend time with her even though Frankie’s body lay in her bedroom.

Groves later tried to create an excuse for her actions, by saying that the murder had been spurred by the fact that she had looked through Frankie’s mobile phone and discovered that he had been messaging a supposed 13-year-old girl. However, Frankie had blocked the girl when she said she was 13. It transpired the girl was in fact age 17.

Ms Watton added: ‘Groves stabbed her boyfriend in a jealous frenzy and then set about trying to cover for herself. Her actions were cold, callous and calculated. She spun a web of lies, and everything she did was an attempt to further manipulate the situation and detract from taking any responsibility for her crime.

‘The details of this case will have been extremely distressing for Frankie’s family to have to endure, while they continue to grieve for the untimely loss of their loved-one. Our thoughts remain with his family today and we hope that they feel that a sense of justice has been delivered for Frankie.’