Speaker 1: It was shaping up to be a busy morning that
Speaker 1: Saturday in May two thousand and eight at Saint Anne
Speaker 1: Street Police Station in Liverpool, England. Inside the front counter
Speaker 1: staff prepared themselves for the usual calls and concerns that
Speaker 1: tended to accompany the morning after the Friday night before,
Speaker 1: having dealt with a few walk ins already. It had
Speaker 1: just gone eight thirty when the front door swung open
Speaker 1: and two women entered, carrying one large rucksack and an
Speaker 1: over the shoulder sports bag between them. There wasn't much
Speaker 1: that the staff on duty there hadn't seen, but something
Speaker 1: about these two was a little different. The women, middle aged,
Speaker 1: with one wearing a short lime green puffer jacket and
Speaker 1: the other a long red coat, appeared to be identical
Speaker 1: twins and were clearly in a state of agitation. As
Speaker 1: the woman in the green jacket sat down, the other
Speaker 1: approached the desk. As the woman explained the counterstaff, they
Speaker 1: had just got off the ferry that morning from Dublin,
Speaker 1: having made their way from County Cork. The woman, who
Speaker 1: gave her name as Sabina Erikson, needed help because her partner,
Speaker 1: with whom she lived in Ireland, had kidnapped her children.
Speaker 1: After taking a few more details, the counterstaff suggested Sabina
Speaker 1: take a seat while they made a few calls. Sabina,
Speaker 1: as it transpired, was a Swedish national who'd been living
Speaker 1: in the town of Mallow in Ireland for the past
Speaker 1: few years with her partner and children. Her sister, Ursula Ericson,
Speaker 1: who lived in the United States, had flown to Ireland
Speaker 1: the previous day to spend some time with Sabina. Now
Speaker 1: the reasons that weren't entirely clear, the pair were sat
Speaker 1: in a police station in Liverpool. Having taken Sabina's address
Speaker 1: and contact number. An officer on duty made a quick
Speaker 1: call to the Guarder, the Republic of Ireland's police force.
Speaker 1: The officer suggested they send a car round to Sabina's
Speaker 1: address to investigate her accusation. It was almost three hours
Speaker 1: later when Guarder officers arrived at Sabina's home address, only
Speaker 1: to find her partner and her children there safe and sound,
Speaker 1: with no obvious sign of anything unto ward having taken place.
Speaker 1: As the partner explained, with Sabina's sister Ursula having just
Speaker 1: arrived out of the blue the day before, the two
Speaker 1: sisters had spent the day together before coming home to sleep.
Speaker 1: When he woke up the following morning, they were nowhere
Speaker 1: to be found. The guarder called the officer at Saint
Speaker 1: Anne Street police station to relay the information, but by
Speaker 1: that time Sabina and Ursula had gone some sixty miles
Speaker 1: south of Liverpool along the M six motorway. Melissa Dutton,
Speaker 1: the manager of a service station located just outside Keel,
Speaker 1: was about to take her lunch when she was contacted
Speaker 1: by the driver of a coach heading from Liverpool to
Speaker 1: Victoria Station in London. The driver was requesting help with
Speaker 1: two of his passengers that he was having difficulty with.
Speaker 1: Dutton arrived in the service station car park to find
Speaker 1: Sabina and Ursula standing huddled close together next to the coach.
Speaker 1: As the driver explained to her he'd become suspicious of
Speaker 1: the pair when they refused to place their luggage in
Speaker 1: the hold. One of the women was said to have
Speaker 1: asked the coast to stop since she was feeling unwell,
Speaker 1: but when he saw them take their bags with them,
Speaker 1: the driver became suspicious again, though he had no legal
Speaker 1: right to demand to know what was in their bags.
Speaker 1: In the wake of the July seventh tube and bus
Speaker 1: bombings in London three years previously, all transport company staff
Speaker 1: had been encouraged to be extra vigilant. Worried that they
Speaker 1: might be hiding something, he refused to let them back
Speaker 1: on board. With not much else to be done, Dutton
Speaker 1: suggested the pair seek alternative arrangements, and then watched as
Speaker 1: they conferred quietly together, looked about the car park, and
Speaker 1: then headed off around the back of the service station.
Speaker 1: Now growing concerned by their behavior herself, Dutton made a
Speaker 1: phone call to the police, asking them to come and
Speaker 1: speak to the women. The police found Sabina and Ursula
Speaker 1: milling about the car park, asking them what they were doing.
Speaker 1: Sabina explained that they were merely trying to get to
Speaker 1: London when they were unfair early kicked off the coach.
Speaker 1: The officers gave the women a contact number for another
Speaker 1: bus company and suggested they call them to find another
Speaker 1: coach to take them the rest of the way. Up
Speaker 1: in the control room of the Highways Agency in Birmingham,
Speaker 1: forty five miles from Keel, agency staff work the phones
Speaker 1: in front of a vast bank of monitors displaying CCTV
Speaker 1: footage covering all major roads linked to the region. It
Speaker 1: was roughly three thirty pm when one worker spotted something
Speaker 1: unusual on one of the monitors. Sabina and Ursula making
Speaker 1: their way north up the Central Reservation as three lanes
Speaker 1: of fast moving traffic tore past them on either side.
Speaker 1: Though not police, it is the Highway Agency's responsibility to
Speaker 1: monitor traffic, congestion and other motorway infringements. Fearing the women
Speaker 1: were in danger, a patrol vehicle was duly dispatched to
Speaker 1: gather them from the Central Reservation. Moments later, shortly before
Speaker 1: the patrol car is due to arrive, the agency worker
Speaker 1: watches in horror as the two women attempt to cross
Speaker 1: the busy motorway. Stepping over the barrier, Sabina makes a
Speaker 1: break for it, only to be clipped by an oncoming
Speaker 1: car traveling over seventy miles an hour and knock to
Speaker 1: the ground. But then, as the agency worker watches in disbelief,
Speaker 1: Sabina merely hauls herself back to her feet and makes
Speaker 1: the way to the other side of the road, seeming
Speaker 1: completely unfazed by what had happened. Just a few miles away,
Speaker 1: two motorway police officers are being filmed for a BBC
Speaker 1: documentary series. When the call comes in to assist the
Speaker 1: highway officers in dealing with the two women, as a
Speaker 1: steady drizzle of rain begins to fall, the officers PC
Speaker 1: and PC Finlayson arrived to find Sabina and Ursula standing
Speaker 1: by the side of the road next to their bags,
Speaker 1: being quietly spoken to by the highway officers. One of
Speaker 1: the officers approaches the police and to briefs them on
Speaker 1: what has taken place, while a BBC camera operator films
Speaker 1: their exchange. Behind them, six lanes of traffic speed by
Speaker 1: in a monotonous cascade of Doppler engine noise as the
Speaker 1: light rain continues to fall. As one of the highway
Speaker 1: officers leans in to speak with Sabina, Ursula makes a
Speaker 1: break for it, only not over the grassy verge to
Speaker 1: her left, but straight out across the motorway. The officer
Speaker 1: spins round in an attempt to catch hold of her,
Speaker 1: but can only grab the sleeve of her jacket. As
Speaker 1: Ursula turns back in desperation, slips free from her coat
Speaker 1: and charges headlong under the wheels of a forty ton
Speaker 1: or truck. PC Finlayson, who had turned just in time
Speaker 1: to catch her disappearing underneath it, screamed out in horror,
Speaker 1: but before anyone has time to fathom what has happened,
Speaker 1: Sabina has also stepped out purposefully into the oncoming traffic,
Speaker 1: running straight into a Volkswagen Polo traveling at sixty miles
Speaker 1: an hour, making no attempt to get out of the way.
Speaker 1: In an instant, her body is flipped over the front,
Speaker 1: slamming hard into the bonnet and smashing the windscreen. As
Speaker 1: the car screeches to a halt, she has flung forward
Speaker 1: again and tumbles to the ground with a sickening thud,
Speaker 1: And then for a brief moment, everything is still. With
Speaker 1: all traffic now stopped on both sides of the motorway,
Speaker 1: Sabina and Ursula remained complete still on the tarmac. PC
Speaker 1: Finlayson yells into his walkie talkie for an immediate ambulance dispatch,
Speaker 1: knowing only too well that it's probably in vain, But
Speaker 1: as the four officers run to help, they are shocked
Speaker 1: and relieved to find that both women are still alive.
Speaker 1: Rushing to Ursula, Finlayson, seeing that her legs have been
Speaker 1: horrifically mangled, urges her to stay calm, but Ursula does
Speaker 1: nothing of the sort. Screaming for the officer to leave
Speaker 1: her alone. She demands that he called the police. When
Speaker 1: he tries to tell her that he is the police,
Speaker 1: she only becomes more agitated. Clearly in a state of paranoia,
Speaker 1: Ursula calls out for her sister, who is still lying
Speaker 1: silently in the road, having hit her head after being
Speaker 1: struck by the car. Sabina has been knocked out cold,
Speaker 1: with paramedics now on hand to help. PC Cope is
Speaker 1: just asking for an neck brace when suddenly Sabina begins
Speaker 1: to stir. As Cope urges her to stay down, Sabina
Speaker 1: somehow scrambles to her feet. Two minutes ago she was
Speaker 1: out cold, having been struck by a car at sixty
Speaker 1: miles per hour, and now she is standing up as
Speaker 1: if nothing has happened. As Cope tells her again to
Speaker 1: stay down, Sabina takes one look around and bolts toward
Speaker 1: the central reservation. Cope attempts to grab her, but with
Speaker 1: unusual strength, Sabina floors the police officer, pushing her to
Speaker 1: the ground. PC Finlayson gives chase and soon has Sabina
Speaker 1: cornered but rather than give up, Sabina whips off her
Speaker 1: coat and faces down the officer. It'll take six people
Speaker 1: in total to eventually subdue her, bringing her kicking and
Speaker 1: screaming to the far side of the road, where they
Speaker 1: are eventually able to handcuff her. Still needing to get
Speaker 1: her to a hospital, paramedics are forced to administer a
Speaker 1: sedative to calm her down. As members of the public
Speaker 1: start to gather, filming the event on their mobiles. An
Speaker 1: air ambulance arrives to take Ursula to hospital, and Sabina
Speaker 1: is placed in an ambulance and taken there too. Are
Speaker 1: you always taking care of your family? Do you often
Speaker 1: take care of others and not yourself? Now it's time
Speaker 1: to take care of yourself. To make time for you.
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Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast today to get started. That's teladoc dot com
Speaker 1: slash Unexplained podcast. With Ursula in a critical condition, she
Speaker 1: has whisked immediately to theater where she has operated on
Speaker 1: successfully before being taken back to Award to recover. No
Speaker 1: drugs or alcohol are found to be in her system
Speaker 1: Sabina is also checked over, but found to have only
Speaker 1: minor scratches and bruises, and her head injury is not
Speaker 1: considered bad enough to warrant an overnight observation. Of being
Speaker 1: assessed by a psychiatrist, a police doctor, and a social worker,
Speaker 1: she is deemed fit to be released from hospital while
Speaker 1: under supervision. The woman's bags were finally searched, but revealed
Speaker 1: little more than a passport for Ursula and some clothes,
Speaker 1: but also curiously, a number of mobile phones. There is
Speaker 1: nothing else to explain what the women were doing or
Speaker 1: where they were heading. Having been discharged from hospital, Sabina
Speaker 1: is immediately arrested and charged with trespassing on the motorway
Speaker 1: and assaulting a police officer. PC Elliot is instructed to
Speaker 1: deliver her from the hospital to the police station, having
Speaker 1: been briefed on her earlier behavior. The Sabina who greets
Speaker 1: him outside the hospital is a far cry from the
Speaker 1: description he'd been given by now, appearing upbeat and completely
Speaker 1: oblivious of what had just taken place, it sees no
Speaker 1: reason to even apply handcuffs before asking her to take
Speaker 1: a seat in the back of the car, which she
Speaker 1: does without any resistance. Later at the station, Sabina is
Speaker 1: processed and formally charged with the various offenses. Not once
Speaker 1: does she inquire about the health of her sister or
Speaker 1: elaborate on what the two of them were doing on
Speaker 1: the motorway. For the second time that day, Sabina's partner
Speaker 1: in Ireland is contacted by police, only this time it
Speaker 1: is to inform him that Sabina has been arrested again.
Speaker 1: He claims no knowledge of what she's doing in England.
Speaker 1: That afternoon, as officers marvel at Sabina's complete change of personality.
Speaker 1: Few fully register the seemingly throwaway line that Sabina utters
Speaker 1: as her details are being recorded that in Sweden they
Speaker 1: have a saying. She says that an accident rarely comes alone.
Speaker 1: Usually at least one more follows, perhaps even two. Sabina's
Speaker 1: case is set to be heard in the local magistrate's court,
Speaker 1: but since it's a Saturday and they won't be open
Speaker 1: till Monday, she is ordered into a cell, where she
Speaker 1: will stay for the next two nights. On Monday morning,
Speaker 1: Sabina is taken to Fenton Magistrate's Court, just outside the
Speaker 1: city of Stoke on Trent, where she pleads guilty to
Speaker 1: the charges and is sentenced to one day in custody.
Speaker 1: Already spent. Seeing no reason to keep her detained any
Speaker 1: longer or administer a full psychiatric evaluation, she is released
Speaker 1: later that night. Friends fifty four year old Glenn hollins
Speaker 1: Head and Peter molloy are enjoying a quick drink at
Speaker 1: the Royal Oak Pub on Christchurch Street in Fenton. It's
Speaker 1: just gone nine thirty pm when the pair decided to
Speaker 1: call it a night and make their way back home,
Speaker 1: accompanied by Glenn's dog, who he'd brought out with him earlier.
Speaker 1: Having just left the pub, a woman called out to
Speaker 1: the men from the other side of the road, saying
Speaker 1: that she liked their dog. As Peter molloy would later state,
Speaker 1: the woman was Sabina, who appeared to be lost. Heading
Speaker 1: over to speak with her, Sabina introduced herself and explained
Speaker 1: that she was trying to find the local hospital to
Speaker 1: check in on her sister, who was being looked after there.
Speaker 1: With it getting late, she also wondered if the men
Speaker 1: knew of any hotels nearby that she might use for
Speaker 1: the night. It was only then that Peter noticed the
Speaker 1: plastic bag she was carrying that seemed to have all
Speaker 1: her possessions in it, and wondered if they shouldn't just
Speaker 1: move on. Glenn, however, was eager to help, Thinking it
Speaker 1: would be hard for Bena to find somewhere to stay
Speaker 1: nearby so late in the day, he suggested she come
Speaker 1: back to his house, where he could make her some
Speaker 1: food and she could use his spare room for the night.
Speaker 1: Glenn also had a brother that worked at the hospital
Speaker 1: who might be able to give them an update on
Speaker 1: how her sister was doing. Thanking him for the offer,
Speaker 1: Sabina followed Glenn and Peter back to Glenn's house. For
Speaker 1: the next few hours, the three of them shared some
Speaker 1: drinks and chatted, but Sabina seemed unable to relax, sitting
Speaker 1: for one minute, but then getting up the next and
Speaker 1: peering suspiciously out of the window before returning to her seat.
Speaker 1: Pulling a packet of cigarettes out of her bag, she
Speaker 1: offered one to Glen and Peter, who gladly accepted, but
Speaker 1: no sooner had they put them in their mouths, Sabina
Speaker 1: grabbed them back, telling them that they couldn't smoke them
Speaker 1: because they were poisoned. Though Glenn seemed untroubled by her behavior,
Speaker 1: Peter grew more and more uncomfortable, until finally unable to
Speaker 1: bear it any longer, he made his goodbyes and returned home.
Speaker 1: The following day, Glenn's brother Paul, while on duty at
Speaker 1: the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, received a call from
Speaker 1: Glenn asking if he could inquire as to the whereabouts
Speaker 1: of Ursula ericson. Paul said he would see what he
Speaker 1: could do and agreed to call back when he had
Speaker 1: the information. Later that day, around seven forty PM. Glenn's neighbor, Frank,
Speaker 1: was washing a minibust that he looked after in the
Speaker 1: alleyway behind his house when Glenn appeared unexpectedly, asking if
Speaker 1: he could borrow some tea bags. Frank offered to get
Speaker 1: him some once he'd finished cleaning the vehicle. Just over
Speaker 1: a minute later, Glenn appeared again in the alleyway, only
Speaker 1: this time he was stumbling forward and clutching at his chest.
Speaker 1: She stabbed me, he said, what do you mean, said Frank,
Speaker 1: looking on in disbelief. Then he saw the blood gushing
Speaker 1: out of Glenn's neck that was also bleeding through his top.
Speaker 1: She stabbed me, said Glenn again, as he collapsed to
Speaker 1: the floor. Frank told him to hold on as he
Speaker 1: dashed off inside to call an ambulance. By the time
Speaker 1: he returned, Glenn was dead. At that moment, Joshua Grattige
Speaker 1: was making his way toward heron Cross Roundabout in his car,
Speaker 1: just two minutes from Glenn's house, when he was distracted
Speaker 1: by a bizarre sight. It was Sabina standing on an
Speaker 1: island between two roads, covered in blood and hitting herself
Speaker 1: in the head with a lump hammer. Thinking the blood
Speaker 1: must have been hers gratige, stopped the car immediately and
Speaker 1: attempted to wrestle the hammer out of her hand, but
Speaker 1: as he tried to grab it, Sabina fought him off.
Speaker 1: As the frantic sirens of an approaching ambulance could be heard,
Speaker 1: Sabina pushed herself free and raced off in the direction
Speaker 1: of heron cross around about positioned above the busy AD
Speaker 1: fifty trunk road. Without looking back, Sabina made her way
Speaker 1: to the middle of a bridge section above the road,
Speaker 1: climbed over the railings and jumped. Sabina fell thirty feet
Speaker 1: to the hard concrete surface straight into oncoming traffic, breaking
Speaker 1: both her ankles and fracturing her skull, but incredibly survived.
Speaker 1: After two weeks, having been deemed to have sufficiently recovered,
Speaker 1: Sabina was arrested for the murder of Glen Hollins's head,
Speaker 1: who was found to have been stabbed five times with
Speaker 1: a kitchen knife. However, it wouldn't be until September, three
Speaker 1: months later that Sabina was finally released from hospital, taken
Speaker 1: into custody, and formally charged with Glenn's murder. At about
Speaker 1: the same time, Ursula was also declared well enough to
Speaker 1: leave hospital. With no charges being brought against her, she
Speaker 1: was free to leave the country. After traveling to Sweden
Speaker 1: for a short time, she eventually returned to the US.
Speaker 1: Sabina at first pleaded not guilty to the murder, then
Speaker 1: at her eventual trial in September the following year, accepted
Speaker 1: the charge of manslaughter with diminished responsibility. Prior to her trial,
Speaker 1: she was given a psychiatric assessment by teams for both
Speaker 1: the defense and prosecution, with each coming to the conclusion
Speaker 1: that she'd been suffering a psychiatric episode at the time
Speaker 1: of the killing, but by the time of her trial
Speaker 1: was considered perfectly sane. Though a number of psychiatric explanations
Speaker 1: were put forward by the opposing legal teams, in the end,
Speaker 1: neither could say exactly what had occurred. Some believed she'd
Speaker 1: suffered an episode of what is known as folly adeur,
Speaker 1: a madness of two in which Sabina was considered to
Speaker 1: have somehow been influenced by the presence of her twin sister,
Speaker 1: who was judged to have been the instigator of the psychosis.
Speaker 1: Others believed that she'd been suffering from an acute polymorphic
Speaker 1: psychotic disorder, which would have left Sabina experiencing terrifying hallucinations
Speaker 1: and delusions. However, since both illnesses are extremely rare and
Speaker 1: ursula was never assessed, it was virtually impossible to know
Speaker 1: for sure what had happened, and as a result, it
Speaker 1: was extremely difficult for the judge to pass a sentence.
Speaker 1: Unable to give her an indeterminate sentence in which she
Speaker 1: would be released when she was no longer a danger
Speaker 1: to the public since she already wasn't, in the end,
Speaker 1: he was forced to give her a fixed term sentence
Speaker 1: with no obligation that she be supervised or monitored after
Speaker 1: her release throughout the entirety of her arrest and trial.
Speaker 1: When asked to explain her and her sister's actions, Sabina
Speaker 1: replied only no comment. If you enjoy listening to Unexplained
Speaker 1: and would like to help supporters, you can now go
Speaker 1: to Unexplained podcast dot com forward slash support. All donations,
Speaker 1: no matter how large or small, are massively appreciated. All
Speaker 1: elements have Unexplained are produced by me, Richard McClain smith.
Speaker 1: Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes, and feel
Speaker 1: free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas
Speaker 1: regarding the story you've heard on the show. Perhaps you
Speaker 1: have an explanation of your own you'd like to share.
Speaker 1: You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com,
Speaker 1: or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com.
Speaker 1: Forward slash Unexplained. Hello. Now it's time to take care
Speaker 1: of yourself. To make time for you. Teledoc gives you
Speaker 1: access to a licensed therapist to help you get back
Speaker 1: to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by
Speaker 1: phone or video anytime between seven am to nine pm
Speaker 1: local time, seven days a week. Teledoc Therapy is available
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Speaker 1: telldoc dot com, Forward slash Unexplained Podcast Today to get started.
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