Not Guilty Plea

The practice of accused criminals pleading 'not guilty', when the facts of their alleged crimes appear perfectly plain to anyone with an ounce of common sense, seems to be reaching epidemic proportions, if this recent report in The Telegraph is anything to go by. 

The fact that there are witnesses, that Mr Kilic enlisted the help of a friend in his murderous manhunt, that he took along his two young children before stabbing his victim multiple times all seem to have been ignored in submitting his not guilty plea.

Which makes me wonder if the criminal justice system has lost its senses or maybe defence lawyers will take on any old case these days, so long as they get paid. 


Husband 'used GPS app to catch his wife cheating then killed man in front of their children'

Court hears Oktay Kilic, 40, used a mobile app called Find a Friend before finding his wife having sex inside a car with another man

Oktay Kilic, left, is appearing at Leeds Crown Court for the murder of Mark Berney Photo: Ross Parry

By Agency

A "possessive and controlling" husband tracked his wife's movements with an app before finding her with another man - who he then killed with a kitchen knife in front of their children, a court heard.

Oktay Kilic, 40, allegedly used a mobile app called Find a Friend and enlisted one of his taxi driver friends to locate the two, who were engaged in sexual activity inside her car on a country lane.

The Turkish taxi driver took his children in the car with him before pulling up directly in front of the lovers and leaped out - and allegedly slashing Mark Berney, 44, multiple times with a 16 centimetre blade, a jury was told.

Leeds Crown Court was told how Mr Kilic's wife, solicitor Kathleen Kilic, had been subject to physical and emotional abuse for years before the incident took place on August 3, 2014 in Ripley, North Yorkshire.

Kilic has pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder, claiming that he had not planned to kill Mr Berney and had instead found the knife in the boot of Mrs Kilic's car when he lost control of his emotions.

Prosecuting, Bryan Cox, told the jury: "In police interviews Mr Kilic said 'At the time I did it, I felt one thousand times bigger than that little piece of s**t sat in the car.'

"Mr Kilic had the sole intention of meeting Mr Berney to kill him or at least heavily injure him. He had shown his anger issues in the past during his marriage with Mrs Kilic.

"Mrs Kilic had found her husband to be jealous, obsessive, possessive and controlling. At times he mocked her because of her weight. He threw objects around the house and had been, on occasions, physically abusive.

"She had to seek help from domestic abuse charities and seek counselling after he had caused injuries to her eye.

"This behaviour continued for a number of years. He became a gambling addict and started to blame her for all of his problems."


Kathleen Kilic at Leeds Crown Court (Ben Lack)

The jury heard how Kilic met his wife in 2005 and they married the following year, and for a time their relationship was satisfactory.

They had two children, a son born in 2008 and a daughter born in 2010 - but after that, the relationship started to deteriorate.

Mr Cox said: "The defendant gambled, there were financial issues and the defendant proved to have a possessive and controlling disposition.

"By August 2014 they were still living in the same house but they had become estranged.

"During 2014, Kathleen began to talk to an old school friend on the internet, the deceased, Mark Berney. For a short time they started seeing each other and their relationship developed.

"The defendant became suspicious that an affair was taking place and went to considerable lengths to find out who Mr Berney was.

"On the August 3 2014 Mrs Kilic had arranged to meet Mr Berney in the evening. She told the defendant that she had an appointment with a client.

"But he didn't believe her, so he placed a mobile phone in the boot of her car on which there was an application so that he could trace her movements on his laptop.

"He had asked one of his taxi driver friends, who was formally an undertaker, how he could dispose of a body without requiring the legal documents.

"He then asked another taxi driver to follow his wife around and tell him where she had been.

"Mrs Kilic went to pick Mr Berney up and they went to a pub together for a drink. They then went to a country lane nearby.

"The defendant's attempts to track the car had been successful. He left home in his taxi, taking the children with him.

"When he got there, he got out of the car taking with him a substantial kitchen knife and went to the front door of the Toyota and opened the passenger door where Mr Berney was sat.

"He shouted at Mr Berney: 'What the f**k are you doing with my wife?'

"Mr Berney remained silent and tried to stop Kilic from opening the door. The two tussled for a while but Kilic managed to open it and lunged at him with the knife.

"The wounds inflicted Mr Berney were a large gaping wound to the throat and stab wounds to the heart, as well as knife-caused injuries to his limbs, backside and genitals.

"Mr Berney fell unconscious and died quickly afterwards, despite efforts from a passing couple to administer CPR before the ambulance arrived.

"Mr Kilic had fled the scene in his taxi. He dropped the children off at Mrs Kilic's mother's house, telling her that Kathleen was alright.

"He then tore the badges off his taxi car and abandoned it in Leeds. He then got a taxi to Wigan city centre, which cost him around £80, so that he could explain to his close friend from Turkey what had happened.

"His friend told Kilic to hand himself into the police which he did after a couple of hours.

"Kilic walked into a police station in Wigan and declared: "I've done something really bad. I've stabbed someone and I hope he isn't dead."

Kilic, of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, denies a charge of murder.

The trial continues.