Latest / The Evolution of Evil - True Crime Stories / Serial Killer Documentary - Eric Locke： The Sickening Truth

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Serial Killer Documentary - Eric Locke： The Sickening Truth · The Evolution of Evil - True Crime Stories

0:06
Speaker 1: In 2014, in a suburb of Dublin, a brief romance
0:10
Speaker 1: between Sonia Blunt and Eric Locke went sour, setting off
0:14
Speaker 1: a chain of events that would end with Sonia's violent death.
0:19
Speaker 2: This was a brutal, awful murder. It was rage-fuelled.
0:26
Speaker 1: Furious at being rejected, Locke became obsessed with getting Sonia back.
0:31
Speaker 3: And he was going to do that, by hook or
0:33
Speaker 3: by crook, whether Sonia wanted it or not.
0:36
Speaker 4: He brought cable ties, the Stanley knife, duct tape, the
0:41
Speaker 4: imitation gun.
0:42
Speaker 1: After taking Sonia's life, Eric Locke threw off all responsibility
0:47
Speaker 1: for his terrible crime.
0:49
Speaker 5: The defence really argued for his mental disorder.
0:53
Speaker 6: It was a momentary insanity. I never meant to do it.
0:56
Speaker 1: Despite his attempts to play the victim, Eric Locke's depraved
1:00
Speaker 1: actions mean that he will forever be known as one
1:03
Speaker 1: of the world's most evil killers. In May 2017, Eric
1:27
Speaker 1: Locke was jailed for the murder of his colleague, Sonia Blunt.
1:31
Speaker 1: The 35-year-old had lured Sonia to a hotel room in
1:34
Speaker 1: Dublin and ended her life after pretending to be someone
1:38
Speaker 1: else online. Locke was a lonely heart's worst nightmare.
1:43
Speaker 4: The person that you're meeting may not be the person
1:45
Speaker 4: that they say that they are, but it could be
1:47
Speaker 4: somebody deceiving you and then you could end up in
1:49
Speaker 4: a situation where you're murdered or killed. I think that's
1:52
Speaker 4: what's scary about it.
1:53
Speaker 1: 31-year-old Sonia thought she'd done enough to keep herself safe,
1:58
Speaker 1: but she'd not reckoned on the determination and evil intent
2:02
Speaker 1: of Eric Locke.
2:04
Speaker 3: He has been online. He has changed his identity, a
2:07
Speaker 3: new profile on social media.
2:09
Speaker 2: He pretended to be somebody else so that he could
2:14
Speaker 2: have access to her. He had no intention of leaving
2:19
Speaker 2: there that night without having her. That was the plan.
2:24
Speaker 1: Sonia Blunt was a single mother simply looking for love.
2:29
Speaker 1: Killer Eric Locke deceived and manipulated her in pursuit of
2:33
Speaker 1: revenge and retribution. This killer's story begins in the spring
2:38
Speaker 1: of 1982, six miles west of Dublin's city centre.
2:44
Speaker 3: Eric Locke was from St John's Park East in Llandawkin
2:48
Speaker 3: in County Dublin.
2:49
Speaker 6: Quite a small community and he was born to a
2:52
Speaker 6: very good family.
2:54
Speaker 1: Locke grew up with his parents and sister in the
2:56
Speaker 1: working-class town. It was an ordinary childhood, though Locke's mother
3:00
Speaker 1: and father had concerns from time to time about their
3:04
Speaker 1: son's state of mind.
3:05
Speaker 5: He had been hyperactive as a child and his parents
3:09
Speaker 5: had sought treatment for him. He was noticed by his
3:13
Speaker 5: family at a young age to be interested in lining
3:17
Speaker 5: up things and making lists and they were concerned about him,
3:21
Speaker 5: but he was never diagnosed with anything.
3:27
Speaker 2: And he also said that he was subject of ridicule
3:32
Speaker 2: because of a deformity on his penis.
3:35
Speaker 5: When Eric Locke was born, his urethra was on the
3:39
Speaker 5: underside of his penis. And there was a surgical attempt
3:44
Speaker 5: to correct it, but it was unsuccessful. So then he
3:46
Speaker 5: was left with both the deformity itself and the scarring.
3:51
Speaker 5: And he didn't know about this really until he was
3:54
Speaker 5: teased in the showers after PE class when he was
3:57
Speaker 5: 12 or 13 years of age. And after that, he
4:00
Speaker 5: always felt different.
4:02
Speaker 1: Whether because of his issues in his teenage years or
4:05
Speaker 1: for some other reason, those who knew Eric Locke in
4:08
Speaker 1: his 20s noticed something a little unusual about the way
4:11
Speaker 1: he interacted with the opposite sex.
4:14
Speaker 6: I think one person said of Eric Locke that he
4:17
Speaker 6: was weird about women.
4:19
Speaker 5: He had no problem getting girls. He was quite a
4:22
Speaker 5: good-looking man, objectively, but he never could hold on to them,
4:27
Speaker 5: and nobody ever knew much about his relationships.
4:31
Speaker 6: One friend described him as charming, but dead behind the eyes.
4:36
Speaker 5: Eric Locke was definitely an odd person, but he didn't
4:40
Speaker 5: seem to be a dangerous person. He had no history
4:42
Speaker 5: of violence or any police history at all.
4:46
Speaker 1: After graduating from college, Locke entered the world of work
4:50
Speaker 1: and enjoyed socialising with friends and colleagues.
4:54
Speaker 6: He was a football player as a young man, a
4:56
Speaker 6: Manchester United supporter. Some people say he did a bit
4:59
Speaker 6: of male modelling. Whether it's true, I'm not sure. But
5:03
Speaker 6: certainly he was, you know, upright, and throughout his 20s,
5:08
Speaker 6: didn't really make much of an impression on anyone. He
5:10
Speaker 6: just had an ordinary life.
5:13
Speaker 1: In 2013, 31-year-old Eric Locke was single and living with
5:17
Speaker 1: his parents in Clondalkin when he got a new job
5:20
Speaker 1: at a glue manufacturer four miles away in Taller. This
5:25
Speaker 1: is where he met the woman who would soon become
5:27
Speaker 1: the focus of the dark side he'd so far managed
5:31
Speaker 1: to keep under wraps.
5:34
Speaker 3: Locke worked with a number of people in a daily
5:38
Speaker 3: course of his employment, and one such person he worked
5:41
Speaker 3: with was Sonia Blunt. She was a 31-year-old lady from
5:45
Speaker 3: the Tala area.
5:48
Speaker 5: They caught each other's eye at work and there were
5:51
Speaker 5: rumours around work that they fancied each other and they
5:55
Speaker 5: did go on a few dates.
5:58
Speaker 1: 31-year-old Sonia had worked at the manufacturing plant for about
6:02
Speaker 1: 10 years when she met new employee, Locke.
6:06
Speaker 6: Sonia was brought up in Teller, at south-west of Dublin Centre.
6:10
Speaker 6: One of five, it's a close family, the parents separated,
6:14
Speaker 6: but it was still amicable.
6:17
Speaker 1: The eldest of five children, Sonia was known as a
6:20
Speaker 1: caring sister and daughter with a strong circle of friends.
6:25
Speaker 1: She'd studied childcare at college before starting her career at
6:29
Speaker 1: the manufacturing plant. Sonia was also a devoted single mother
6:34
Speaker 1: with a toddler son from an unhappy long-term relationship that
6:38
Speaker 1: had broken down in the autumn of 2013.
6:40
Speaker 3: He was domineering and she had gotten away from that relationship.
6:47
Speaker 5: The man had left the country, and she really was
6:50
Speaker 5: beginning to enjoy life again at that stage, because she
6:53
Speaker 5: wasn't looking for a serious relationship.
6:56
Speaker 1: In December 2013, Sonia Blunt and Eric Locke started spending
7:01
Speaker 1: time together outside of work. The romance, however, was short
7:05
Speaker 1: and not particularly sweet.
7:08
Speaker 6: I think Locke was to say later, we were never boyfriend-girlfriend.
7:12
Speaker 6: It was just a sort of, they went on a
7:13
Speaker 6: number of dates. Early in January 2014, Sonia and Eric
7:19
Speaker 6: Locke would go on a date together. It's a gig,
7:23
Speaker 6: so far so normal.
7:24
Speaker 4: At some point in the night, Sonia decided to go
7:26
Speaker 4: out and have a cigarette. Ultimately, Locke was a bit suspicious.
7:31
Speaker 4: She was gone for 20 minutes, and this seemed to
7:33
Speaker 4: upset him.
7:34
Speaker 5: After a while, Locke came out looking for her, and
7:38
Speaker 5: she was talking to other people, including males, and he
7:41
Speaker 5: called her a slut.
7:43
Speaker 1: Furious, Locke berated Sonia for daring to chat with other men.
7:47
Speaker 2: Basically accusing her of flirting, very gendered slurs. So that
7:53
Speaker 2: incident actually is probably the biggest red flag you can
7:57
Speaker 2: have from anyone who's going to become a problem for
7:59
Speaker 2: you in the relationship. And she didn't like it, and
8:03
Speaker 2: she was upset by it.
8:04
Speaker 1: Horrified at the dark turn the date had taken, Sonia left,
8:09
Speaker 1: telling Locke that the romance was over. As he took
8:12
Speaker 1: a taxi home a few hours later, a drunk and
8:15
Speaker 1: apparently remorseful Locke tried to take back his verbal attack.
8:21
Speaker 5: He was just hounding her by text message and just
8:25
Speaker 5: begging her to let him see her and explain it.
8:28
Speaker 5: And she said, there's no need to explain it.
8:31
Speaker 4: Sonia explained to him the messages that she knew he
8:33
Speaker 4: was a nice person. However, she couldn't accept being spoken
8:36
Speaker 4: to in that manner.
8:37
Speaker 1: Over the next couple of days, Eric Locke bombarded Sonia
8:41
Speaker 1: Blunt with dozens of messages demanding a second chance. Sonia
8:46
Speaker 1: asked him repeatedly to stop, but the texts kept coming,
8:49
Speaker 1: peppering her with excuses for his jealousy and aggression.
8:53
Speaker 4: He did acknowledge that the only reason that he reacted
8:55
Speaker 4: in this way was because he was insecure and that
8:58
Speaker 4: Sonia hadn't told him that he was attractive. This was
9:01
Speaker 4: surprising to Sonia, that he would react in this way
9:04
Speaker 4: or seek this type of approval.
9:06
Speaker 2: Sonia had only had a couple of dates with him.
9:10
Speaker 2: This kind of behavior after a relationship breakup is not
9:14
Speaker 2: about love. It's actually about possession and inability to take
9:19
Speaker 2: any kind of rejection at all. And it can become
9:24
Speaker 2: really quite dangerous quite quickly.
9:27
Speaker 1: Sonia found Eric Locke's response surprising, even alarming. But it
9:32
Speaker 1: was only the beginning. On the 13th of January, three
9:36
Speaker 1: days after their disastrous date, he walked out in the
9:40
Speaker 1: middle of his shift. He stopped answering his phone or
9:43
Speaker 1: replying to co-workers' messages about his whereabouts.
9:48
Speaker 3: Sonia, being the caring and kind and considerate person that
9:52
Speaker 3: she was, sent him a text to say, oh, we're
9:56
Speaker 3: worried about you, is everything OK? But he didn't respond
10:00
Speaker 3: until the following day.
10:01
Speaker 4: And he said that he was in a hotel room
10:03
Speaker 4: and that he had a rope and that he was sorry.
10:05
Speaker 4: It was at this time that Sonia decided to contact
10:07
Speaker 4: the Gardaí.
10:09
Speaker 1: Sonia was worried sick. She had no idea what this desperate,
10:13
Speaker 1: volatile man might be capable of doing.
10:17
Speaker 4: The Gardaí were able to trace Locke's phone to a
10:19
Speaker 4: hotel room and when they got there, he said that
10:22
Speaker 4: it was just a joke. However, the Gardaí didn't believe
10:25
Speaker 4: him and weren't convinced, so they arrested him under the
10:27
Speaker 4: Mental Health Act. He was then hospitalised.
10:32
Speaker 5: He discharged himself later that day and she stayed in
10:36
Speaker 5: touch with him. Her text messages to him were more
10:39
Speaker 5: of a caring nature after that, asking him to get help,
10:42
Speaker 5: encouraging him to get help. She was extremely worried and
10:47
Speaker 5: her friend said she wasn't sleeping or eating.
10:52
Speaker 1: Sonia felt terrible about the way things had turned out,
10:56
Speaker 1: which is perhaps exactly what Eric Locke intended.
11:01
Speaker 3: Sonia was such a gentle and kind soul that she
11:05
Speaker 3: was looking after his best interests and he exploited that
11:08
Speaker 3: instead of appreciating it for what it was.
11:13
Speaker 2: He is looking for anything that will get her back.
11:19
Speaker 2: It's like having a little toolbox. Right, well, I'm going
11:21
Speaker 2: to pull this tool out, the begging and crying. Let's
11:23
Speaker 2: see if that works. And if that doesn't work, then
11:25
Speaker 2: we'll go to something else.
11:29
Speaker 1: For homicide expert Professor Jane Monckton-Smith, Eric Locke's threats to
11:34
Speaker 1: take his own life were not just a tactic. They
11:38
Speaker 1: were also a warning sign of the risk he posed
11:41
Speaker 1: to Sonia Blunt's life.
11:45
Speaker 2: When I'm training police, we always say, if there's a
11:48
Speaker 2: threat to suicide, that should be interpreted as a threat
11:51
Speaker 2: to homicide.
11:53
Speaker 1: Eric Locke's desperate text messages and disappearing tricks were just
11:57
Speaker 1: the beginning. His pursuit of Sonia Blunt would continue to escalate.
12:03
Speaker 1: But while Locke was planning his next move, Sonia had
12:06
Speaker 1: been online and met someone new.
12:10
Speaker 3: Sonia was contacted on social media a guy called Shane Cully,
12:16
Speaker 3: and they started messaging.
12:18
Speaker 5: And he seemed completely different from Eric Locke, and there
12:23
Speaker 5: was a bit of fun, a bit of banter back
12:25
Speaker 5: and forth, and she just went with it.
12:29
Speaker 6: Sonia wants to find something. Maybe it's friendship, maybe it's romance.
12:36
Speaker 6: One can't be absolutely sure, but I can be incredibly
12:38
Speaker 6: sympathetic because I can understand exactly how she must have felt.
12:43
Speaker 4: They're getting along quite well. He's proposing to go on
12:46
Speaker 4: a date. Initially, Sonia had some concerns. She was worried
12:49
Speaker 4: that this could have been Locke essentially catfishing her. So
12:53
Speaker 4: she asked Shane Cully to send her a selfie. She
12:56
Speaker 4: wanted to be completely assured that this wasn't Locke pretending
12:59
Speaker 4: to be somebody else.
13:00
Speaker 1: The young mother ignored her own misgivings and brushed off
13:04
Speaker 1: the fears of those who'd witnessed her ordeal with Locke.
13:08
Speaker 5: And even when she was telling the story to... her co-worker,
13:12
Speaker 5: about this guy she was going to meet. The co-worker said,
13:16
Speaker 5: are you sure that's not Eric Locke pretending to be
13:19
Speaker 5: someone else? That's the kind of guy he was that
13:24
Speaker 5: they suspected that of him. And she assured her, well,
13:27
Speaker 5: I thought that, but I actually got a selfie from him.
13:30
Speaker 2: It's not him.
13:32
Speaker 5: And they started to send each other risque messages. And
13:36
Speaker 5: eventually they agreed to meet up in a hotel room.
13:40
Speaker 4: It was something unusual for her, but it was after
13:43
Speaker 4: Valentine's Day, perhaps feeling slightly lonely, and decided to spend
13:47
Speaker 4: the night with him.
13:48
Speaker 1: Sonia Blunt had never before arranged a romantic encounter with
13:52
Speaker 1: a stranger in a hotel, but she pushed her nerves
13:56
Speaker 1: aside and set a date to meet Shane Cully. While
14:00
Speaker 1: Sonia did her best to move on, Eric Locke was
14:04
Speaker 1: persisting in his campaign of emotional blackmail.
14:07
Speaker 5: He accused her of blanking him at work and said
14:12
Speaker 5: that she was spreading rumors that he was stalking her.
14:16
Speaker 5: And she replied, well, I haven't heard those rumors, but
14:20
Speaker 5: I would appreciate if you'd stop staring at me at
14:22
Speaker 5: work because it is making me feel uncomfortable.
14:26
Speaker 2: Sonia had been through bad breakup before. She had seen
14:31
Speaker 2: probably the kind of behaviors that Locke was displaying, you know,
14:35
Speaker 2: that possessiveness, that control.
14:39
Speaker 3: It must have been very difficult for Sonia on a
14:41
Speaker 3: day-to-day basis, coming in and wondering, how am I going
14:44
Speaker 3: to deal with him today? What form is he going
14:46
Speaker 3: to be in today? I have to thread the needle,
14:50
Speaker 3: be nice to him, but not give him the wrong signals.
14:53
Speaker 1: Sonia was so uncomfortable with Locke's behaviour that she considered
14:57
Speaker 1: asking to change shifts so that she would no longer
15:00
Speaker 1: cross paths with him. Her former love interest seemed hell-bent
15:05
Speaker 1: on pressuring her into submissions.
15:07
Speaker 4: Sonia confided in one of her friends. She said that
15:10
Speaker 4: he was freaking her out. It was at this time
15:12
Speaker 4: that Sonia decided it was time to cut all contact
15:14
Speaker 4: with him and blocked him on social media.
15:16
Speaker 2: She wanted him to go away. She was probably quite
15:20
Speaker 2: frightened of him at this point. The trouble is, when
15:24
Speaker 2: you do something like that, it just makes them more angry.
15:30
Speaker 1: The mother of one desperately hoped this would put an
15:33
Speaker 1: end to a situation that had rapidly escalated from awkward
15:38
Speaker 1: to troubling to downright scary. But Sonia couldn't have been
15:42
Speaker 1: more wrong.
15:43
Speaker 6: On the 24th of January, Locke writes Sonia a letter,
15:49
Speaker 6: quite long, again pleading for a reconciliation.
15:54
Speaker 5: He was telling her how sorry he was and how
15:57
Speaker 5: ashamed he was putting her in that position after sending
16:00
Speaker 5: the suicide text. But lower down in the letter, he
16:04
Speaker 5: would say things like, I thought you might have stood
16:08
Speaker 5: by me when I was suicidal and I would have
16:11
Speaker 5: stood by you and I would have waited for you
16:14
Speaker 5: until you got over this.
16:17
Speaker 3: One minute he was building her up, next minute he
16:18
Speaker 3: was knocking her down.
16:21
Speaker 1: Locke ended the long letter by saying that Sonia was
16:25
Speaker 1: an amazing mother who'd everything going for her and that
16:28
Speaker 1: he hoped they would all find happiness.
16:33
Speaker 2: Locke's behaviour was escalating and in this stage, Locke's behaviour
16:39
Speaker 2: turned to stalking.
16:42
Speaker 5: He contacted his sister to say he'd got back with
16:45
Speaker 5: Sonia but that he had heard rumours that she was
16:49
Speaker 5: ripping him off. and asked if an acquaintance of his
16:54
Speaker 5: sister could hack into her Facebook page. Then he asked
16:59
Speaker 5: what about hacking into her Hotmail email account.
17:03
Speaker 1: Whether or not she believed his tale that he and
17:06
Speaker 1: Sonia were back together, Eric Locke's sister refused to help
17:10
Speaker 1: him access Sonia's private email or social media profiles. Oblivious
17:17
Speaker 1: to Locke's attempt to stalk her, Sonia continued living her life.
17:24
Speaker 1: On Saturday 15th February 2014, she and her family celebrated
17:29
Speaker 1: Sonia's little boy's birthday.
17:32
Speaker 5: Sonia adored her son and loved being a mother. And
17:37
Speaker 5: according to her sister, she went all out for his
17:39
Speaker 5: birthday and had a party with family and his friends.
17:46
Speaker 1: The festivities over, Sonia got ready for a secret tryst.
17:51
Speaker 4: She had asked her mother to look after her son
17:53
Speaker 4: for the night because she wanted to go meet her
17:55
Speaker 4: friend Susan and was going to go out with her
17:57
Speaker 4: that evening.
17:59
Speaker 5: She cancelled last minute, telling that friend she wanted to
18:02
Speaker 5: stay in and read a book, that she was tired.
18:04
Speaker 1: Though she did not admit it to friends and family,
18:07
Speaker 1: Sonia had in fact arranged to meet her Facebook date,
18:11
Speaker 1: Shane Cully, at a hotel in Talla that evening.
18:15
Speaker 6: She gets to the Plaza Hotel about 9 o'clock that
18:17
Speaker 6: evening and it takes about 20 minutes for her to
18:20
Speaker 6: check in.
18:21
Speaker 3: She's received messages from Shane to say that he was
18:23
Speaker 3: going to be slightly later and could she leave the
18:26
Speaker 3: key card for the door at the reception. Sonia was thinking, Asher,
18:31
Speaker 3: I'll wait and we can go up together.
18:33
Speaker 5: But he didn't come for hours and he was texting
18:36
Speaker 5: her through Facebook and most of the text messages, about
18:39
Speaker 5: 12 of the text messages, were unanswered. asking her to
18:43
Speaker 5: leave a key card for him at reception. And she said,
18:47
Speaker 5: there's no need, I'll let you in when you get here.
18:50
Speaker 1: Unaccustomed to arranging sexual liaisons in hotels and embarrassed about
18:55
Speaker 1: facing reception staff again, Sonia initially resisted Shane's demand.
19:01
Speaker 4: However, Shane was quite persistent and asked her to leave
19:04
Speaker 4: the key down at the hotel desk, so she did so.
19:07
Speaker 5: She'd been waiting for him for about three hours at
19:09
Speaker 5: that stage and she said she was going to have
19:11
Speaker 5: a drink to calm her nerves. She would have been tired,
19:14
Speaker 5: but I suppose excited when he said he was finally
19:18
Speaker 5: on the way.
19:20
Speaker 1: Armed with his own room key, Sonia's would-be lover had
19:24
Speaker 1: no need to knock.
19:27
Speaker 6: When the door opens just before midnight, she immediately recognises
19:31
Speaker 6: that the man who's just entered a room isn't Shane Culley.
19:37
Speaker 6: but it's actually Eric Locke.
19:40
Speaker 1: We will never know exactly what went through Sonia Blunt's
19:44
Speaker 1: head when she realized Eric Locke had tricked her into
19:47
Speaker 1: meeting him, nor will we ever be sure precisely what
19:51
Speaker 1: happened next.
19:53
Speaker 5: Locke himself told Garthy that she was shocked to see
19:56
Speaker 5: him and that she asked, could they leave together? So
20:01
Speaker 5: she did not want to stay there with him, there
20:03
Speaker 5: was no doubt about it.
20:05
Speaker 1: But Locke did not agree to leave with Sonia. He
20:09
Speaker 1: later said he feared she'd scream as they walked through reception.
20:13
Speaker 1: Almost six hours later, he left the hotel alone.
20:18
Speaker 2: He left the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.
20:20
Speaker 2: He didn't want Sonia to be found. He wanted to
20:24
Speaker 2: buy himself some time.
20:27
Speaker 4: He got into the elevator. He could be seen trying
20:29
Speaker 4: to cover his face. He was wiping it with a tissue.
20:32
Speaker 1: Eric Locke flagged down a taxi to take him home
20:35
Speaker 1: to Clondalkin, telling the driver who commented on injuries to
20:39
Speaker 1: his left cheek that he'd had an eventful night out.
20:43
Speaker 5: Gave him some story about dancing with a girl on
20:47
Speaker 5: the dance floor and her boyfriend coming up and giving
20:49
Speaker 5: him a few slaps. When the taxi driver said, let's
20:54
Speaker 5: have a look at your face, which was very obvious,
20:57
Speaker 5: and he said, oh, you'll have a lot of explaining
20:59
Speaker 5: to do about that.
21:01
Speaker 1: While Eric Locke slept off his rough night, Sonia Blunt's
21:05
Speaker 1: family had begun to sense something was amiss.
21:09
Speaker 6: Sonia always called up to check her son was all right,
21:13
Speaker 6: if she'd stayed out at night. First thing in the morning,
21:16
Speaker 6: she'd ring and say, is he okay?
21:19
Speaker 4: However, when she didn't call, alarm bells started to ring.
21:21
Speaker 4: Her mother initially called her friend Susan to see what
21:24
Speaker 4: had happened because she was out with her friend Susan
21:26
Speaker 4: that night. And when Susan told her that she had
21:29
Speaker 4: changed her plans and said she was staying in that night,
21:32
Speaker 4: her mother was very concerned.
21:34
Speaker 5: So her family were looking for her and calling everybody,
21:37
Speaker 5: calling her friends.
21:39
Speaker 4: And it's then that her brother had seen on social
21:41
Speaker 4: media that a murder had occurred in Tallinn.
21:45
Speaker 6: News travels fast that a body has been discovered. Now,
21:50
Speaker 6: and it's almost impossible to imagine what the parents must
21:54
Speaker 6: have felt The.
21:55
Speaker 1: News of a suspicious death at a Tala hotel came
21:59
Speaker 1: in the late afternoon of that Sunday, the 16th of February.
22:03
Speaker 1: Fearing the worst but hoping they were wrong, Sonia's family
22:07
Speaker 1: needed to find out if she had come to harm.
22:10
Speaker 5: They made their way to the hotel and saw her
22:13
Speaker 5: car there.
22:15
Speaker 4: Her father saw Sonia's car and saw police gathered around,
22:19
Speaker 4: and he said that he just knew. When they approached
22:21
Speaker 4: the Gardaí, the Gardaí told the family,' You better come inside.
22:25
Speaker 6: The guards ask the family to describe Sonia to them.
22:32
Speaker 6: And in particular, they ask them about the tattoo that
22:36
Speaker 6: Sonia had, because it's very specific. Well, imagine the scene.
22:42
Speaker 6: It is beyond description. what they must have felt and
22:46
Speaker 6: how they must have felt it.
22:47
Speaker 1: Sonia Blunt's devastated parents and siblings were told they would
22:52
Speaker 1: have to wait 24 hours for confirmation that the female
22:56
Speaker 1: victim was indeed their daughter and sister. As the shell-shocked
23:00
Speaker 1: family returned home, inside the hotel, the Garda were examining
23:05
Speaker 1: what was clearly the scene of a terrible crime.
23:09
Speaker 5: Her body wasn't discovered until cleaning staff went into the
23:12
Speaker 5: room at 3 o'clock that afternoon.
23:15
Speaker 1: The young mother was lying on the floor in the
23:17
Speaker 1: recovery position. Sonia had blood on her face and some
23:21
Speaker 1: kind of fabric stuffed into her mouth.
23:23
Speaker 5: They found her with a ligature mark around her neck.
23:27
Speaker 5: It was very pronounced.
23:29
Speaker 4: They also saw an imitation gun. They saw duct tape
23:33
Speaker 4: and cable ties. When they went into the bathroom, they
23:36
Speaker 4: saw a bloodied towel and bloodied napkins. They also saw
23:39
Speaker 4: her bloodied phone cable charger.
23:43
Speaker 6: Something horrible has happened in that hotel room.
23:46
Speaker 4: The post-mortem results show that Sonia died due to asphyxiation
23:49
Speaker 4: and lack of oxygen due to compression of the neck.
23:52
Speaker 4: The strangulation was so vicious and prolonged that it actually
23:55
Speaker 4: broke a number of bones in her neck.
23:58
Speaker 1: Sonia's T-shirt had been pushed deep into her mouth, exacerbating
24:02
Speaker 1: the effects of the strangulations.
24:05
Speaker 4: The state pathologist, Marie Cassidy, noted that due to the
24:08
Speaker 4: bruising around her mouth, that she was undoubtedly alive when
24:11
Speaker 4: her top was put into her mouth. And it was
24:14
Speaker 4: put in with such force and such ferocity that he
24:17
Speaker 4: broke several of her teeth and the wire retainer at
24:20
Speaker 4: the back of her teeth.
24:22
Speaker 1: Sonia Blunt had been murdered in an act of extreme violence.
24:27
Speaker 1: Detectives asked themselves who could possibly want a hard-working, family-orientated
24:32
Speaker 1: young mother dead? but they did not have to wonder
24:36
Speaker 1: for long. Six hours after her body was discovered, Eric
24:41
Speaker 1: Locke walked into a Garda station in the centre of Dublin.
24:46
Speaker 7: At around half nine last night, a man presented himself
24:49
Speaker 7: to Garda at Store Street station in the city. He
24:52
Speaker 7: was arrested and taken to Talla Garda station.
24:57
Speaker 4: Eric Locke went into Store Street Garda station and confessed
25:00
Speaker 4: to killing Sonia Blunt.
25:04
Speaker 5: He said he had attempted suicide but couldn't do it
25:07
Speaker 5: when he had very real images of his family in
25:11
Speaker 5: his head. He admitted the killing but said it was
25:13
Speaker 5: an accident. He said that he had just planned to
25:16
Speaker 5: talk to her and explain his situation.
25:19
Speaker 1: Locke told investigating officers he had to use the fake
25:22
Speaker 1: profile to trick Sonia into meeting him because she'd cut
25:26
Speaker 1: all contact and blocked him online. He insisted he'd only
25:30
Speaker 1: bought the cable ties and duct tape so that if
25:33
Speaker 1: Sonia refused to hear him out, he could tie her
25:36
Speaker 1: to a chair and force her to listen. The weapons
25:39
Speaker 1: were simply to scare her into compliance. Locke claimed that,
25:43
Speaker 1: at first, Sonia had been happy to stay in the
25:46
Speaker 1: room with him.
25:47
Speaker 5: He said they had consensual sex. He was asked by
25:52
Speaker 5: the Gardaí if he had raped her and he denied that.
25:56
Speaker 5: When she saw what he had brought with him, the
25:58
Speaker 5: pellet gun, the Stanley knife, the masking tape, she started
26:02
Speaker 5: to scream and he said he just wanted to shut
26:05
Speaker 5: her up in case somebody... heard her, and he started
26:08
Speaker 5: to strangle her.
26:10
Speaker 1: Detectives found Locke's version of events hard to believe. The
26:14
Speaker 1: killer claimed Sonia had willingly stayed in the room with
26:17
Speaker 1: her own stalker, had consented to have sex with him,
26:21
Speaker 1: and had only panicked when she saw the array of
26:24
Speaker 1: sinister items Locke had brought with him.
26:27
Speaker 3: From a Garda investigation point of view, here we have
26:31
Speaker 3: a young woman who's strangled, murdered, And we have a
26:36
Speaker 3: guy then coming in and telling us that he did it,
26:40
Speaker 3: but he didn't intend to do it. So is it
26:43
Speaker 3: manslaughter or is it murder? Can we prove the intent
26:47
Speaker 3: or can we not prove the intent?
26:51
Speaker 5: He first told the Gardaí that he strangled her with
26:54
Speaker 5: his bare hands only, but then he was shown the
26:57
Speaker 5: cable of her phone charger, which was bloodstained, and he
27:01
Speaker 5: admitted that he had used that briefly He later said
27:04
Speaker 5: he used that first and then he changed to using
27:07
Speaker 5: his hands.
27:10
Speaker 3: That first attempt he made to strangle her didn't work
27:13
Speaker 3: so he strangled her with his bare hands then instead.
27:16
Speaker 3: So really his story didn't really stand up.
27:22
Speaker 5: He was medically examined after his arrest and he had
27:26
Speaker 5: very obvious scratch marks on his face and he also
27:30
Speaker 5: had carpet burns on his arms and legs And these
27:36
Speaker 5: were found to be consistent with him having carried out
27:40
Speaker 5: a sexual assault. His DNA was found on her forehead,
27:46
Speaker 5: her right breast, on a pillow and bedsheets in the
27:49
Speaker 5: room as well. Sonia's blood was found on the jeans
27:53
Speaker 5: Eric Locke had been wearing.
27:56
Speaker 1: Locke told the guarder he wasn't sure if Sonia was
28:00
Speaker 1: dead when he left, but that before leaving, he'd dressed
28:04
Speaker 1: the lifeless woman so that she'd have dignity when she
28:07
Speaker 1: was found.
28:10
Speaker 6: It's a very, very creepy thing to do.
28:14
Speaker 2: The confession is not about remorse or shame or guilt.
28:19
Speaker 2: He's now trying to say to the police, I'm not
28:21
Speaker 2: really this bad guy that I look like. He is
28:24
Speaker 2: going to start presenting himself as the victim. He claimed
28:29
Speaker 2: that he'd always suffered with depression through his life, but
28:34
Speaker 2: when he met Sonia, it seemed to lift and he
28:38
Speaker 2: was happy. And then when she finished with him, it
28:42
Speaker 2: all came crashing down again. Depression does not cause people
28:48
Speaker 2: to commit this type of murder.
28:53
Speaker 1: Just after 1am on the 17th of February, Eric Locke
28:57
Speaker 1: was charged with Sonia Blunt's murder.
29:00
Speaker 7: Eric Locke was brought by detectives from Tallagard station to
29:03
Speaker 7: the local district court this morning to face a charge
29:06
Speaker 7: of murder.
29:08
Speaker 1: There was not enough evidence to charge him with raping
29:11
Speaker 1: or sexually assaulting Sonia. Locke was remanded in custody at
29:16
Speaker 1: Cloverhill Prison in Clondalkin, South Dublin. The task for detectives
29:21
Speaker 1: now was to prove their suspect intended to kill Sonia.
29:26
Speaker 6: The police search Eric Locke's house and discover a positive
29:33
Speaker 6: treasure trove of information, including handcuffs, cable ties. a screwdriver set.
29:44
Speaker 4: And also a list of names of women a number
29:47
Speaker 4: of them had addresses which he obtained from social.
29:49
Speaker 1: Media When Locke's devices were analyzed, Gardy found he'd been
29:54
Speaker 1: stalking several women online. They suspected he planned more attacks
29:59
Speaker 1: like the one he'd inflicted upon Sonia.
30:03
Speaker 3: We'll never know what his other plans were and who
30:07
Speaker 3: else he had taken a dislike to or a set against.
30:12
Speaker 2: He had a kill list. He went with weapons. He
30:16
Speaker 2: had got there through coercive means. This guy had been
30:21
Speaker 2: planning this for a while. He was not an innocent.
30:24
Speaker 2: He was not a victim of his own temper. That's
30:28
Speaker 2: just not what was going on here. When a man
30:31
Speaker 2: kills a partner who has left him, it is never
30:36
Speaker 2: jealous rage. Most cases have planning and lock planned.
30:44
Speaker 1: The fake Facebook profile in the name of Shane Cully
30:48
Speaker 1: had been carefully calculated to deceive Sonia and to win
30:52
Speaker 1: her trust.
30:53
Speaker 5: He had photographs on there, he had friends on there.
30:58
Speaker 5: It looked like a real Facebook profile of someone. At
31:02
Speaker 5: this stage, it was months since he had met her
31:05
Speaker 5: and they'd dated and he knew her likes and her
31:08
Speaker 5: dislikes and he behaved completely differently to Eric Locke. On
31:13
Speaker 5: this Facebook profile.
31:15
Speaker 2: And he played on that to be able to get
31:19
Speaker 2: access to her. He knew enough about her to know
31:23
Speaker 2: if he came in as a potential boyfriend, what to
31:27
Speaker 2: say and how to say it.
31:30
Speaker 1: When the pathologist examined Sonia's body, she found further evidence
31:35
Speaker 1: that Sonia's death had not occurred in one brief red
31:38
Speaker 1: mist moment, but had in fact been a prolonged and
31:41
Speaker 1: determined assault.
31:43
Speaker 2: She was really attacked by him. She fought for her
31:47
Speaker 2: life and she was able to scratch his face and
31:51
Speaker 2: she actually got his DNA. underneath her fingernails. She fought
31:56
Speaker 2: like a tiger and it would have taken some strength
31:59
Speaker 2: and some determination and some time. Strangulation murder doesn't happen
32:05
Speaker 2: in a couple of seconds.
32:09
Speaker 1: Though they were certain Eric Locke had murdered Sonia Blunt
32:13
Speaker 1: in cold blood, Garda and prosecutors knew it was down
32:17
Speaker 1: to them to prove it to a jury. On the
32:20
Speaker 1: 8th of May 2017, Eric Locke went on trial at
32:25
Speaker 1: Dublin's Central Criminal Court. The process of getting justice for
32:29
Speaker 1: Sonia had been beset by legal delays.
32:34
Speaker 5: The trial was supposed to start at least a year
32:36
Speaker 5: and a half earlier, but it was adjourned when the
32:40
Speaker 5: defence applied for a new psychiatric report for him.
32:46
Speaker 7: Eric Locke didn't speak during the brief hearing. he stood
32:49
Speaker 7: in the dock with his head down. He was granted
32:51
Speaker 7: free legal aid and the judge directed that he have
32:54
Speaker 7: access to his medication and be afforded medical attention if
32:58
Speaker 7: required before remanding him in custody to appear again at
33:02
Speaker 7: Cloverhill District Court this day week.
33:05
Speaker 1: Locke, now 35 years old, maintained his position that while
33:09
Speaker 1: he may have killed the mother of one, he was
33:11
Speaker 1: not a murderer.
33:13
Speaker 5: When the trial did get underway, a jury was sworn
33:16
Speaker 5: in and he pleaded not guilty to murder.
33:20
Speaker 1: Journalist Natasha Reid attended every day of the two-week trial.
33:26
Speaker 5: The courtroom was packed, both families, friends, but also an
33:30
Speaker 5: awful lot of reporters. There was a lot of interest
33:33
Speaker 5: in the case. And there was an atmosphere, a very
33:37
Speaker 5: tense atmosphere, that prevailed for the whole trial.
33:40
Speaker 1: One of the challenges for prosecutors would be convincing the
33:44
Speaker 1: jury of eight men and four women that Locke was
33:47
Speaker 1: a callous killer who posed a threat to women.
33:51
Speaker 5: One of the things that stood out about Eric Locke
33:53
Speaker 5: is that he looked like quite a decent person. He
33:57
Speaker 5: looked like someone who didn't belong in a courtroom. And
34:00
Speaker 5: sure enough, he'd never been in trouble with the Gardaí
34:02
Speaker 5: in his life before. He didn't come from that kind
34:04
Speaker 5: of background at all. So he did look out of
34:07
Speaker 5: place there. And he did look kind of innocent as well.
34:12
Speaker 4: As Locke had already admitting to killing Sonia, it really
34:15
Speaker 4: came down to his mental state in this trial. So
34:18
Speaker 4: what the jury needed to establish was his mental state
34:21
Speaker 4: at the time of the offence.
34:23
Speaker 6: You couldn't argue with the forensic evidence. You couldn't argue
34:26
Speaker 6: with the physical evidence. You could only argue about Locke's
34:28
Speaker 6: state of mind.
34:30
Speaker 1: Locke's defence team claimed that at the time of Sonia's death,
34:34
Speaker 1: the killer was suffering from a mental disorder that meant
34:37
Speaker 1: he did not have the ability to form a rational judgement,
34:41
Speaker 1: exercise self-control or understand that what he was doing was wrong.
34:46
Speaker 4: The psychiatrist who evaluated Locke did say that a great
34:49
Speaker 4: deal of planning went into the murder of Sonia. However,
34:53
Speaker 4: he did go on to say that Locke's mental capacity
34:57
Speaker 4: had diminished a lot prior to this killing.
35:01
Speaker 5: There are only specific mental disorders that can qualify a
35:05
Speaker 5: person for this partial defense of diminished responsibility, which reduces
35:10
Speaker 5: murder to manslaughter. So it did come down in the
35:14
Speaker 5: end to the defense psychiatrist saying he had a pervasive
35:17
Speaker 5: personality disorder, which would have qualified him for diminished responsibility.
35:22
Speaker 4: When Dr. Bunn asked Locke to describe himself, he said
35:25
Speaker 4: he was a genuinely peaceful guy. However, the psychiatrist had
35:29
Speaker 4: noted in these examinations that Locke distinctly lacked empathy. He
35:33
Speaker 4: also added that he had suffered from ADHD and borderline
35:36
Speaker 4: personality disorder.
35:38
Speaker 1: When they cross-examined the expert witness, the prosecution questioned the
35:42
Speaker 1: idea that Locke had lost control of himself when he
35:46
Speaker 1: killed Sonia.
35:47
Speaker 4: The doctor did concede that there was an element of
35:50
Speaker 4: control in Locke's actions when he was there. So when
35:52
Speaker 4: he was strangling her, he could change his hands. A
35:55
Speaker 4: person who lacks self-control is blinded by their rage and
35:58
Speaker 4: would continue acting crazy. in a consistent manner. However, Locke
36:02
Speaker 4: was able to change both of his hands. Not only that,
36:05
Speaker 4: he then made the decision to reach for the cable,
36:08
Speaker 4: the phone cable, and then strangle her with that.
36:11
Speaker 1: Not only did Locke show control in the moment, the
36:14
Speaker 1: prosecution pointed out that he'd put a great deal of
36:17
Speaker 1: planning into his crime.
36:20
Speaker 3: What he did was premeditated in that he had set
36:23
Speaker 3: up a fake profile. He had engineered a case whereby
36:28
Speaker 3: Sonia would leave the key card at the reception. He
36:33
Speaker 3: knew that if Sonia had gone along with her plan
36:36
Speaker 3: to let him in as he knocked at the door,
36:38
Speaker 3: that she would have recognised him through the keyhole and
36:41
Speaker 3: not let him in. He had brought the equipment to
36:44
Speaker 3: tie Sonia up and to gag her, and he had
36:48
Speaker 3: brought the fake firearm.
36:50
Speaker 1: After killing Sonia, Locke had also gone to some lengths
36:53
Speaker 1: to cover his tracks. Having placed the Do Not Disturb
36:57
Speaker 1: sign on the hotel room door, he'd run from the building,
37:00
Speaker 1: attempting to cover his face so his wounds would not
37:03
Speaker 1: be seen.
37:05
Speaker 5: He went outside and he was caught on camera disposing
37:08
Speaker 5: of his mobile phone.
37:10
Speaker 4: The prosecution argued that Locke may have had a personality disorder,
37:14
Speaker 4: but he did not have a mental disorder that would
37:16
Speaker 4: qualify him for diminished responsibility.
37:19
Speaker 5: The prosecution case was that it was anger and rage
37:23
Speaker 5: that led him to strangle her. And it was consistent
37:27
Speaker 5: with retribution and vengeance. And they said, you know, that
37:33
Speaker 5: this story about consensual sex was not even slightly believable.
37:40
Speaker 1: The prosecution argued that Locke was motivated by his obsessive
37:44
Speaker 1: fixation on the relationship with Sonia he wanted and believed
37:48
Speaker 1: he deserved to have.
37:51
Speaker 3: Locke had honed in on Sonia. He had picked her
37:54
Speaker 3: out and then he had decided they were going to
37:57
Speaker 3: live happily ever after and he was going to dominate her.
38:00
Speaker 3: He was going to tell her what she can and
38:02
Speaker 3: what she can't do and he was going to be
38:04
Speaker 3: in charge and the relationship was going to go exactly
38:07
Speaker 3: along the lines that he wanted. and there was no
38:10
Speaker 3: room for maneuver.
38:12
Speaker 2: He feels that she has committed to him in some way,
38:15
Speaker 2: which she hasn't, but he thinks she has. Then he feels,
38:22
Speaker 2: this is now an injustice. I've had my rights taken
38:26
Speaker 2: away by this person rejecting me and finishing with me
38:30
Speaker 2: when we were in a relationship and I was in
38:33
Speaker 2: charge of that relationship.
38:35
Speaker 1: This was the argument put forward by the prosecution that
38:38
Speaker 1: Eric Locke had killed Sonia Blunt because he was furious
38:42
Speaker 1: that she had rejected him. As the jury retired to
38:45
Speaker 1: deliberate on the 22nd of May 2017, Eric Locke must
38:50
Speaker 1: have been hoping they empathise with his plight as a
38:53
Speaker 1: love-lorn suitor.
38:55
Speaker 2: He thinks that other people will sympathise with him to go,
39:00
Speaker 2: I know what you mean, mate. That must have been
39:02
Speaker 2: so hard for you. That's what he was expecting.
39:05
Speaker 1: Eric Locke did not have to wait long to find
39:08
Speaker 1: out if he was right.
39:10
Speaker 5: When the jury was called back after only about 90
39:13
Speaker 5: minutes deliberating, they were asked, as is always the case,
39:18
Speaker 5: have you reached a verdict? There were gasps in the
39:20
Speaker 5: courtroom when they said they had actually reached a verdict
39:25
Speaker 5: at 90 minutes and the verdict was unanimous and it
39:29
Speaker 5: was guilty. They didn't believe his story. They didn't believe
39:33
Speaker 5: that he didn't know what he was doing was wrong.
39:36
Speaker 5: They didn't believe he had no intent. They didn't believe
39:39
Speaker 5: there was any mental disorder there.
39:43
Speaker 4: As he was leaving the courtroom, he turned to Sonia's
39:45
Speaker 4: family and apologised and said he was so sorry. This
39:48
Speaker 4: wasn't accepted by her family. They found that it was
39:52
Speaker 4: completely insincere.
39:54
Speaker 6: As I think Sonia's sister Claire was to say later,
39:57
Speaker 6: if he'd been truly sorry, he wouldn't have put the
40:00
Speaker 6: family through the torture of a trial and the description
40:03
Speaker 6: of what happened to her sister. It's an act of
40:07
Speaker 6: savagery that it is impossible to exaggerate. She was an
40:12
Speaker 6: absolutely innocent mother of a three-year-old boy. There can be
40:18
Speaker 6: no excuse, there can be no hiding from the fact
40:22
Speaker 6: that he was a dreadful, depraved act.
40:25
Speaker 1: On the 2nd of June, Eric Locke appeared again at
40:28
Speaker 1: the Central Criminal Court for sentencing.
40:32
Speaker 3: The mandatory sentence for murder in this jurisdiction is life,
40:37
Speaker 3: and that's exactly what he got.
40:39
Speaker 5: Two of her sisters read out very moving victim impact
40:42
Speaker 5: statements and they talked about... not just losing a sister,
40:47
Speaker 5: an aunt, a daughter, but a mother. And the fact
40:51
Speaker 5: that Sonia's little boy now had lost both parents because
40:56
Speaker 5: one had moved away and Sonia, who had promised him
41:00
Speaker 5: she would never leave, had now left also.
41:04
Speaker 4: In the aftermath of Locke's sentencing, Sonia's family expressed surprise
41:09
Speaker 4: at Sonia's actions that night. Their only explanation for it
41:12
Speaker 4: was that she had been terribly lonely.
41:15
Speaker 6: She's had a relationship, had a child, the relationship has
41:18
Speaker 6: fallen down, and now she's simply looking for the next
41:23
Speaker 6: bit of happiness for her.
41:25
Speaker 4: They believed it was completely out of character for Sonia
41:28
Speaker 4: to meet up with a stranger in a hotel room.
41:30
Speaker 4: It's just not something that she would have done.
41:32
Speaker 1: Eric Locke exploited Sonia Blunt's vulnerability when he tricked her
41:36
Speaker 1: into meeting him. His only intention to punish her for
41:41
Speaker 1: refusing to continue their short-lived relationship.
41:46
Speaker 4: He took advantage of her compassion. When he threatened to
41:49
Speaker 4: kill himself, she still was there looking out for him.
41:51
Speaker 4: Even though she was concerned about his behaviour towards her,
41:54
Speaker 4: she still wanted to be a really nice person and
41:57
Speaker 4: be kind and considerate. So it is scary and sad
42:02
Speaker 4: that somebody would take advantage of that to such an
42:04
Speaker 4: extent and to manipulate her with her kindness and to
42:07
Speaker 4: use that against her.
42:09
Speaker 1: Eric Locke could not accept a woman rejecting him. When
42:13
Speaker 1: mother of one Sonia Blunt recognised his toxic behaviour and
42:18
Speaker 1: made the decision not to keep dating him, Locke responded
42:22
Speaker 1: with every trick in the book, from begging to threats
42:26
Speaker 1: to emotional blackmail. When none of his troubling tactics worked
42:30
Speaker 1: to win her back, he took the ultimate revenge, depriving
42:35
Speaker 1: a caring and beloved young woman of her life. and
42:38
Speaker 1: cementing his place as one of the world's most evil killers.