A ‘controlling and coercive’ man raped and murdered his former fiancée on the night she was planning to tell him she didn’t want to see him again, a court has heard.
Samantha Mickleburgh, from Axminster in Devon, was found dead at the Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot, Surrey, on the morning of April 14 last year.
The mum-of-two, 54, had arranged to stay in a twin room with James Cartwright the night prior because she ‘didn’t want him to feel lonely’ on his 60th birthday, jurors at Guildford Crown Court were told.
Prosecutor Louise Oakley, opening the trial, said Ms Mickleburgh had ended their relationship two months earlier, in February 2024.
‘She didn’t wish him any ill, but she no longer wanted to live with him and no longer wanted to be in a relationship with him,’ Ms Oakley said.
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‘But part of her also felt bad for him, believing that he had no one else to spend that day with.
‘As a result, she had arranged a celebratory meal and stay at Penny Hill Park and Spa, and in a final act of selflessness, she honoured that commitment despite telling friends and family that the relationship was over.’
Her youngest son, Alexander Mickleburgh, told the court he last spoke to his mother on the morning of April 13, when she dropped him off at a friend’s house in Surrey.
Asked whether the pair discussed the trip with Cartwright, Mr Mickleburgh said: ‘She said “I made a promise and so I have to stick by it”.
‘But she was uncomfortable.’
Mr Mickleburgh added: ‘She made it clear this was the last time she was going to see him.’
Cartwright called 999 at about 8.30am on April 14 claiming he had discovered the lifeless body of Ms Mickleburgh lying next to him in bed, jurors were told.
‘That was a lie,’ Ms Oakley said.
‘He had most likely killed her in the early hours of the April 14, 2024, with his own bare hands applying manual pressure around her neck, extinguishing her life.’
A post-mortem examination of Ms Mickleburgh’s body revealed evidence of ‘a significant head injury’ as well as fractures to bones in her neck which are consistent with an act of strangulation, jurors were told.
‘There were only two people in this room – and she couldn’t have and didn’t strangle herself,’ Ms Oakley said.
The court heard the relationship between Cartwright and Ms Mickleburgh, which began in the summer 2022, was ‘somewhat of a whirlwind’ and they got engaged in September 2023.
Following their breakup, Cartwright continued to pursue Ms Mickleburgh, attending her address unexpectedly and uninvited, and ‘bombarding her’ with messages and calls, Ms Oakley said.
‘She had intended at some point to tell him that this was the last time they would see each other,’ Ms Oakley said.
‘Is this what caused James Cartwright’s explosion of violence?
‘He had started to lose control of his relationship with Samantha because of his own controlling and coercive ways.’
Cartwright, of no fixed address, denies raping and murdering Ms Mickleburgh between April 12 and April 14 last year.
He also denies one count of controlling and coercive behaviour between May 1, 2022, and April 14, 2024.
The trial continues.
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