Jury out in murder trial of teenager who inflicted more than 140 knife wounds
43-year-old Marta Bednarczyk was pronounced dead at a property in Wellingborough in March
A jury trying a teenage girl accused of murdering a woman who suffered more than 140 knife injuries has retired to consider its verdict.
Jurors at Lincoln Crown Court have heard more than two weeks of evidence about the stabbing of 43-year-old Marta Bednarczyk, who was pronounced dead at a property in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, in March.
Prosecutors allege a 13-year-old girl, who cannot be identified in media reports because of her age, conducted online research, planned the killing and "plainly thought she was getting away with murder".
Lincoln Crown Court, sitting at the city's Magistrates' Court, has been told the defendant has admitted manslaughter but denies murder, claiming diminished responsibility.
The defendant told jurors she was hearing voices telling her to harm other people in the months before the killing.
During her evidence to the panel of 11 jurors, the girl said of the fatal attack: "It felt like my entire mind shut down. I just wasn't in control of my own body - it was as if it was moving on its own."
The teenager, who said she could not remember starting a fire after the killing, claimed she had conducted Google searches - including "what happens when a 13-year-old murders?" - out of curiosity.
Expert witness Sir Simon Baron-Cohen told the court last week that, in his opinion, the teenager, now aged 14, was suffering from a "highly distressing" mental disorder affecting her ability to form a rational judgment or exercise self-control.
The clinical psychologist said he also believed the dissociative disorder had substantially impaired the girl's ability to understand the nature of her conduct.
At the start of the trial, prosecutor Samuel Skinner KC told jurors: "We say it is murder because she planned the killing, and we say it is murder because she lied about what she did.
"And we say it is murder because there are genuine specialists in this field of psychiatry and psychology that say her actions were not caused by poor mental health."
Evidence from a pathologist was presented to the trial, detailing 143 sharp force injuries, including 65 to the victim's head and neck, one of which entered the brain.
Sending the jury out to begin its deliberations on Tuesday, High Court Judge Mrs Justice Tipples instructed its members not to feel under any pressure of time.
Jurors deliberated for around 40 minutes without reaching a verdict and will resume their discussions at 10am tomorrow (Wednesday 10 December 2025).
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