A former soldier stabbed his nextdoor neighbours to death with a ceremonial dagger after a dispute over parking, moments after his wife told him she wanted a trial separation, a court has heard.
In footage played in court, Collin Reeves shouted “die you fuckers, die” as he carried out what was described as a “brutal and savage” attack on Jennifer and Stephen Chapple at their home in a Somerset village while their two children slept upstairs.
Jurors at Bristol crown court were told that Reeves, 35, had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the Chapples and denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Adam Feest QC, prosecuting, said that on the evening of 21 November last year, Reeves’ wife, Kayley, said she wanted a trial separation, telling her husband: “There’s only so many years I can take your shit.”
Feest said Reeves took a dagger presented to him when he left the British army from its frame on the wall, went out to his back garden and clambered over the fence that separated his home from the Chapples’ property.
Jennifer Chapple, 33, was stabbed in her chest and shoulder six times as she sat on the sofa in the living room. Stephen Chapple, 36, was also stabbed six times. The footage captured Jennifer Chapple’s screams as the attack took place.
Reeves left his victims where they lay, climbed back over the garden fence and phoned the police to tell them what he had done, the court heard. Other neighbours, among them a seven-year-old girl, found the Chapples in pools of blood.
The court heard that the Chapples’ children remained asleep until they were woken by police officers, who removed them from the house.
Feest said the defendant and the Chapples had been in dispute over designated parking spaces outside their houses in Norton Fitzwarren, Taunton, for some months. When Jennifer Chapple learned to drive and the couple bought a second car, she parked in a spot that did not block Reeves but made it harder for him to manoeuvre his vehicle.
On one occasion in May 2021, Reeves told her: “You can’t park there,” to which she replied: “You don’t own the road.”
Later in the year, Jennifer Chapple told friends that Reeves had gone to the garden centre where she worked and stared at her in a “disconcerting” way. Her concerns were heightened because she knew he had been in the army, jurors were told. Reeves installed a recording device in his home pointed at the parking spot.
On 11 November, 10 days before the killing, there was a confrontation. As Jennifer Chapple arrived home, Reeves came out of his house and accused her of “fucking gobbing off, you cheeky little bitch”. She told him “just fuck off” and he replied “you fucking cunt, you fat bitch, you fucking cunt”, the court was told
She made a complaint to police. An officer spoke to her but she said she did not want to take formal action.
Feest said there was no dispute that Reeves killed the Chapples. The only issue to be decided was whether he had diminished responsibility – whether his actions could be explained by the fact he had an abnormality of mental functioning caused by a recognised medical condition that substantially impaired his ability to understand the nature of his conduct, form a rational judgment and/or to exercise self-control – at the time.
After the attack – described by Feest as “ferocious, sustained and deliberate” – Reeves told a relative: “It’s done, it’s done … I just had to protect my family.”
When booked into custody at the police station he gave his serial number from his military service. He said he was confused and didn’t understand why he was there. The custody sergeant explained he had been arrested on suspicion of murder, to which Reeves replied he was “just doing [his] job” and that “it was an operation”.
When he spoke to a healthcare professional he said he had not felt mentally well since leaving the army in 2017. He was constantly tired and had not been sleeping well.
Making a brief opening statement, Reeves’ barrister, Jo Martin QC, said he was “not in his right mind, he was not himself” at the time of the killing. She told the jurors they would hear from a psychologist who would say he had post-traumatic stress disorder.
The trial continues.
