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Man guilty of murdering fiancée fed up with his 'cross-dressing'

A man who battered his Australian fiancée to death when she wanted to leave him because of his cross-dressing has been found guilty of murder in the UK.

Roderick Deakin-White, 38, repeatedly hit Amy Parsons, 35, over the head with a metal bar while she was showering in the flat they shared in Whitechapel, east London.

She suffered "horrific injuries" to her head, face and brain during the attack on April 25 before he left her bleeding to death on the floor.

Picture of Amy Parsons, the Australian woman who was murdered by her fiancee in her flat in the UK.
Amy Parsons was murdered by her fiancee, Roderick Deakin-White, in April this year, after she told him she was leaving him. Source: Facebook.

Deakin-White denied murder but was found guilty by a jury on Tuesday. He faces a life sentence when he is sentenced on November 26.

The court heard Parsons, a personal assistant for a city company who was from Melbourne, became increasingly dissatisfied with the relationship, telling friends one bone of contention was Deakin-White's cross-dressing.

"She was unhappy about this and this was something he had often wanted to do when they were intimate," said prosecutor Gareth Patterson QC.

He told jurors Deakin-White became angry and jealous after Parsons began a relationship with her colleague James Saunders a few weeks before the killing.

The prosecutor said Deakin-White launched the attack after she told him she was leaving him.

Picture of Roderick Deakin-White and Amy Parsons. A jury has found Deakin-White guilty of murdering his fiancee in April.
Roderick Deakin-White denied he murdered his fiancee, Amy Parsons, and insisted it was an "accident". Source: Facebook.

"Unwilling to accept that she was going to leave him, he used a metal bar to hit her repeatedly around the head while she was showering in the Docklands flat which they shared," Patterson said.

"By his blows with the bar he caused her horrific injuries and fractures to the head and face and brain."

She was left bleeding on the shower floor, and Deakin-White fled the flat before confessing to a friend, who persuaded him to hand himself in.

Emergency services broke into Parsons' flat and found her naked body covered in blood slumped on the shower floor.

A post-mortem examination found she suffered major fractures to her head and face and died of a traumatic brain injury.

In interviews with police, Deakin-White admitted attacking her with a metal bar but denied murder, claiming it was an "accident".

Picture of Roderick Deakin-White and fiancee, Amy Parsons. Ms Parsons had told Deakin-White she was leaving him before he brutally murdered her.
Scotland Yard detective said Amy Parsons paid the "ultimate price" for Roderick Deakin-White's controlling nature. Source: Facebook.

"Amy Parsons paid the ultimate price because of Deakin-White's controlling, selfish and violent nature,” Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Darren Jones said.

"He relied on Amy's financial support and I believe he could not stand the fact that she was moving on and refused to be taken advantage of any more.

"Amy had become aware of what kind of person he was and was beginning to take steps to leave Deakin-White.

"These steps included a new relationship, free from Deakin-White's coercive and abusive behaviour.

"Because of this Deakin-White launched a vicious and brutal attack on Amy, without warning and in her own home, where she should have been safe and secure."

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