Cops reveal telltale marks that gave away lying teen killer, 17, who stabbed ex-girlfriend, 17, to death
COPS have revealed the lies a killer teen spun after stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death, and the telltale marks that gave his crime away.
Thomas Griffiths, 17, murdered Ellie Gould at her home after she dumped him to focus on exams, and initially tried to claim he had hadn’t been near the house.
But scratch marks on his face saw his lies picked apart, and cops eventually found footage of him driving from Ellie’s house after the brutal killing.
His mugshot after being arrested shows wounds on his face, and police found Ellie’s DNA on trainers at his house.
On May 3, 2019, depraved Griffiths slaughtered Ellie in her home in Wiltshire as she sat revising for her exams using a knife from her own kitchen.
In a new episode of Britain’s Deadliest Kids the lead detective in the murder probe told how the killer tried to lie about where he had been when he was first quizzed.
Detective Superintendent Jim Taylor said when Griffiths was spoken to by police: “His initial kind of response upon being arrested was ‘is my girlfriend ok, I haven’t seen her today?’
“So he is immediately already trying to lay the foundations down of his lies and deceit.”
The officer added: “When he was seen by officers, he was displaying marks, fresh marks down his face, which looked like scratch marks.
“They looked like classic defence wounds and based on that quite rightly he was arrested on suspicion of murder of Ellie Gould.”
‘LIES AND DECEIT’
He also revealed how Griffiths claimed he hadn’t been to Ellie’s house that day, but after trawling through camera footage from the nearby area officers saw his car heading away from her home around the time she was killed.
Griffith’s smartphone also revealed his location at the time of her death – which put him near her family house.
He stabbed 17-year-old Ellie 13 times in the neck after she split with him to concentrate on her A-levels at the school they both attended.
The monster then drove back home and disposed of a number of items in the woods before calmly going back to school.
He had shared a selfie with pals claiming he had been “scratching” himself due to the stress he was under to explain injuries he had received as Ellie desperately tried to fight back.
She was discovered “face down in a pool of blood, with the knife in her neck” by her horrified dad Matthew.
Chillingly, Griffiths had tried to cover up the crime – putting his ex’s hand on the knife to make it look like she had killed herself.
Griffiths, who pleaded guilty but has refused to explain why he took Ellie’s life, was locked up for 12½ years in November.
Ellie’s parents Carole and Matthew, of Calne, Wilts, said they “want answers from Griffiths”.
Carole said: “He should wake up to what he has done. Just saying he can’t remember or explain why isn’t acceptable.”
The report, by domestic violence charity Standing Together, will be given to council chiefs and the Home Office.
Ellie’s school friends have collected 10,000 signatures on a petition backed by The Sun calling for compulsory self- defence lessons in schools.
Griffiths will be eligible to apply for a sentence reduction after half the time imposed.
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Because he was under 18, terms can be shortened if “the offenders welfare may be seriously prejudiced by his continued imprisonment”.
Mum Carole has previously said he should serve at least 17 years – equal to her age – given his lack of remorse.
She added: “We as Ellie’s parents we want answers from Griffiths , how could he carry out such an evil brutal murder on our beautiful, kind, caring gentle Ellie who he was supposed to have been fond of and why did he do it?”
- The brand-new series of Britain’s Deadliest Kids airs at 10pm on Saturdays from 31st October exclusively on Quest Red and available on dplay