By Press Association 2021
Moses Christensen
A knifeman who stabbed a hillwalker in a random attack “just for the sake of killing somebody” has been convicted of murder after jurors rejected his claim of diminished responsibility.
Moses Christensen walked around 20 miles to Shropshire’s 540-metre Brown Clee Hill before what he himself described as a “savage” and “animalistic” attack on Richard Hall near the summit.
Jurors at Stafford Crown Court deliberated for less than three hours on Wednesday before unanimously convicting the 22-year-old of Mr Hall’s murder.
Police officers at the scene near the summit of Brown Clee Hill (Matthew Cooper/PA)
Stafford Crown Court A jury has retired to consider its verdict on a killer who denies murdering an elderly hillwalker in a random attack. A week-long trial at Stafford Crown Court has been told 70-year-old Richard Hall was stabbed more than 20 times by Moses Christensen, who was living rough in the days leading up to the killing. Christensen, of Corser Street, Stourbridge, West Midlands, told police after the stabbing that he had carried it out just for the sake of killing somebody , near the summit of Shropshire s Brown Clee Hill. Jurors have heard evidence from three psychiatrists about the defendant s mental state at the time of the death on August 13 last year.
A MAN has been found guilty of murdering a pensioner in south Shropshire. Moses Christensen has been found guilty at Stafford Crown Court of the murder of 70-year-old Richard Hall, who was stabbed to death last summer on Shropshire’s Brown Clee Hill. Christensen, from Stourbridge, had denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Adjourning the case until March 16, Mr Justice Pepperall told 22-year-old Christensen: “I am going to delay sentencing. “But understand this. There is only one sentence that can be passed and that is a sentence of life imprisonment.” Moses Christensen was unanimously convicted of murder after the jury panel had deliberated for less than three hours.
Moses Christensen - who had previously admitted a desire to go on a killing spree - denied attacking Richard Hall, 70, in Shropshire. But a jury today found him guilty of murder.