Shaye Groves: ‘Manipulative weirdo’ who stabbed boyfriend to death was obsessed with 'Chucky' doll
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers' discretion advised
WINCHESTER, ENGLAND: Shaye Groves, a 27-year-old who got sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 23 years for stabbing her on-off boyfriend Frankie Fitzgerald, 25, to death, was a "manipulative weirdo" who was obsessed with the movie murder doll Chucky during her childhood. Groves was convicted on February 22, at Winchester Crown Court for slitting the throat of her boyfriend before stabbing him 17 times in the chest on July 17, 2022.
Groves' childhood friend spoke about her while remaining anonymous and provided detailed warning signs about her, narrating that Groves was always "quite strange." She said, "We used to hang out. Shaye was quite strange. She was unique, the way she dressed, what she was into - she used to like Chucky dolls and was interested in them." reported DailyMail.
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'She's always been a bit strange'
The friend said, "When she was younger she was different to what she is now - she was more girly. But, she was never like a girly girl and she always stood out from the crowd. We'd all be in bright colours and she'd be the one in dark clothes, even from that age. She didn't wear what she wore now - she wasn't a goth - but she was always unique. She's always been a bit strange." The outlet also reported that Groves nicknamed a friend, Lauren White, ‘Chucky’ after the movie murder doll.
'She was very manipulative'
The friend revealed that in recent years Groves became more distant and didn’t socialize as much but spent time with White and Vikki Baitup, people who reported her to the police after Groves showed Fitzgerald's dead body via video call. The old friend said, "She didn't used to go out very much, she used to stay in with Lauren and that Vikki Baitup." He added "Lauren [White] would do whatever Shaye [Groves] wanted her to do. She was very manipulative – Lauren didn't have many friends and Shaye used to be the one there for her."
'She was turning goth'
Another woman, who met Groves at a Popworld nightclub through White, said Groves used to bully White and make her do things. The woman, anonymously said, "I've been out clubbing with her and Shaye was just a bit of a weirdo." Talking about Groves' tattoos, she added, "It must have been two years ago she had the throat one done, but she didn't have the big line down her face. And she used to have a lip piercing but not all those other ones. She did start to dress a bit 'gothy' about two years ago as she was turning goth - weirdo."
The brutal killing by Shaye Groves
Steven Perian KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Groves, a mother of one who has now been jailed for a minimum of 23 years, murdered Fitzgerald out of jealousy after she thought that he had been messaging a 13-year-old girl on Facebook. The individual turned out to be 17, reported The Independent.
Marie Watton, CPS Wessex Senior Crown Prosecutor, said, “Shaye Groves had a macabre fascination with serial killers and murder documentaries. She had pictures of serial killers on her walls, owned many gangster books, and watched murder documentaries. This meant that she was familiar with what to do and say to try and engineer a situation where she would look like a victim, which of course completely unravelled in the face of the evidence collected from key witnesses, mobile phones, call data and CCTV recordings," reported CPS.
Watton added, “Groves stabbed her boyfriend in a jealous frenzy and then set about trying to cover for herself. Her actions were cold, callous and calculated. She spun a web of lies, and everything she did was an attempt to further manipulate the situation and detract from taking any responsibility for her crime."