Murder accused was 'in a daze' while gran tried to carry out CPR on victim, court hears

A man accused of murdering his best friend in a "frenzied" attack was "in a daze" while his grandmother tried to carry out CPR on the victim, a court has heard.

Dylan Thomas, 24, is on trial accused of murdering William Bush in Llandaff, Cardiff, on Christmas Eve last year, which he denies.

At the time of the incident, Thomas' grandmother Sharon Burton was sat outside in the car unaware of the incident inside.

During his trial, a recorded interview with Mrs Burton was played to the jury on Thursday, 14 November.

She told the police the first time she knew something had happened was when Thomas, covered in blood, began banging on her car window.

“I took him to his house because he’s got a dog there and he wanted the dog to go for a walk,” she said.

“He said he would be 10 minutes, I got on the telephone to my youngest daughter.

“Within no more than five minutes, all I hear is my car window being banged on.”

She added: “He was screaming, and I don’t know now if he said, ‘he’s going crazy’ or ‘he’s gone crazy’.

“I took the car keys and jumped out and Dylan was just covered in blood, I ran to the house and I could see Will on the floor.”

She attempted to carry out CPR until the ambulance arrived, handing Thomas her phone to call the police and ambulance.

She added: “I felt in my heart ‘he’s dead’ but was praying he was going to be OK. I couldn’t stop.”

“I’m in a nightmare,” she told the officer.

“I just wished I had never taken him there, I never envisaged anything like that with Dylan because he’s such a quiet, reserved boy.”

Thomas, who is being treated for schizophrenia, argues the incident was manslaughter by means of diminished responsibility.

But the Crown, who accept Thomas is “mentally unwell”, said he had planned the attack, having searched for the anatomy of the neck ahead of the incident.

Thomas had gone to stay with his grandmother in the Vale of Glamorgan on December 23 last year, after telling her he was feeling lonely, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

Mrs Burton said his behaviour was “strange” at times, adding: "He wasn’t himself."

Mrs Burton described a conversation between her, her daughter Amber (Dylan’s aunt) and the defendant in which he had spoken about witches and the Illuminati, a secret organisation believed by some to run the world.

"They were silly things, really," Mrs Burton said. "We just pooh-poohed it. It was a very strange conversation."

Mrs Burton said she didn’t know of any issues Mr Thomas had with drugs or mental health, but said her grandson had told her he was “depressed”.

She added that he had told her on the morning of Christmas Eve that he hadn’t slept at all the previous night.

“I told him that we were going out later that day and were going to have a nice day, so I gave him a herbal sleeping medicine and made him a hot drink and told him to go and have a couple of hours’ sleep," she said.

But, she went on, she then found Dylan standing on her balcony despite the “horrendous” weather outside.

"I said 'what are you doing?' Come on in."

The trial has previously heard how Mrs Burton had given Thomas a lift to Cardiff on the morning of the attack, after Thomas told her he wanted to walk his dog.

During the journey, she said the defendant appeared nervous.

“He was wound up about something. But I think that was the dog," Mrs Burton told police.

“He was extremely quiet and I knew there was something, but I didn’t know what.

“I was expecting to go [to the house in Llandaff] to see the dog, pick the clothes up, and come straight home.”

The jury previously heard that Thomas went into the house he shared with Mr Bush and stabbed him 37 times.

Mr Bush, who was 23, suffered a fatal injury to his neck and could not be saved.

Thomas later told police he was acting in self-defence and had been attacked by Mr Bush who had “gone mental” after smoking cannabis, an account which has been described as “lies” by the prosecution.

Mrs Burton was waiting in the car outside the house when the defendant hammered on the window, “clearly distressed”.

She then attempted to perform CPR on Mr Burton until paramedics arrived.

Asked about her grandson’s demeanour when this was going on, she said he was “in a daze".

“I said ‘Dylan, what’s happened? How has this happened?’ He was in a daze."

Describing the defendant’s personality, she said he was a “very calm person".

“He’s not loud, noisy, confrontational. He’s a very quiet boy. Very immature for his 23 years.”

Cross-examined by Orlando Pownall KC, Mrs Burton described how Thomas had had no recollection of a family outing to St Fagans a few weeks previously, something which “concerned” her.

“I said ‘we were there about two weeks ago.’ He had no recollection of it. I was a bit concerned about that.”

She also agreed that the defendant had told her about his belief in teleportation before the incident on Christmas Eve.

The jury has previously heard that Thomas was suffering from psychosis at the time of Mr Bush’s killing, but that experts are in dispute over whether he was responsible for his behaviour on December 24.

The defendant has previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

He is being held at Ashworth High Secure Hospital near Liverpool and appeared in court via video link.

Dylan Thomas denies murder and the trial continues.