University worker who fatally stabbed his own brother during heated argument over pillowcases cleared of murder
A university worker has been cleared of wrongdoing after being accused of murdering his brother during a heated argument over pillowcases. 56-year-old Mark Oliver allegedly fatally stabbed his younger brother Andrew twice and inflicted three knife wounds during a struggle at their Gosport, Hampshire residence, the Daily Mail reported.
The immediate aftermath of the stabbing was seen for the first time in footage released by the Crown Prosecution Service following the verdict. Jean Oliver, their mother, told the authorities how the brothers had a "trivial argument" about who "the freshly-washed 'Egyptian cotton' pillowcases" belonged to.
53-year-old Andrew, a scaffodler and father of two, was unable to recover from wounds he sustained during the February 1 incident. That said, Mark was clear of murder by jurors after nine hours and 16 minutes of deliberation on Friday. The verdict came after a 10-day trial at Winchester Crown Court, Hampshire.
Mark is seen in police body camera footage with blood on his face as he is interrogated by officers. He denied murder and argued that he acted in self-defense after Andrew attacked him and had brandished a knife simply to warn him off.
"I wanted to scare Andrew off. I wanted to snap him out of it and bring him back," he said.
Their devastated mother, 86, spoke to authorities after the incident. "Mark has got his sheets and Andy has got his sheets and things," she told police. "I know it sounds b****y stupid, but Andy has been missing some sheets."
"I just washed them this morning so I said to him 'are these yours?' and he said 'yes'. He took them and Mark thought they were his and Andy thought they were his," Jean recalled.
"It was bloody pillowcases, not sheets," she added.
Speaking to The News, the Oliver family said the court case and death of Andrew had left them all devastated. "It has been awful for the whole family," he said. "There have been no winners in all of this. We have all lost a much, much-loved brother. But the decision by the jury has given has been the right one."
Oliver had been in a "state of shock" when he heard of Andrew's death, the court heard. He had given his brother first aid shortly before the news. "Up until then, I thought it was just another one of these spats, so to speak, and that Andrew had a minor injury. I was fully expecting him to come to the police station later and explain everything – then I found out he was dead," he told the jury during his trial. "He was my brother."
Amanda Westcumb, Mark and Andrew's sister, was in tears when she told the authorities "they are not like this."
"It's unbelievable. Whatever has happened, it's the consequence of a stupid argument. They are never like this," she said. "Not in my wildest imagination can I imagine this happening."
Detective Chief Inspector Roger Wood said the ordeal had taken a massive toll on the Oliver family.
"Following the jury’s verdict and the conclusion of the court case our thoughts remain with Andrew’s friends and family who have been left to pick up the pieces following his death," Wood told reporters after the case.