Mylee Billingham: Murder-accused father had 'moderate depression' when he killed daughter, trial hears

Medic Dr Nuwan Galappathie told Birmingham Crown Court he believed William Billingham was suffering from the mental health condition when he fatally stabbed Mylee Billingham in his Brownhills home.

Depression could have 'clouded' the father-of-six's judgement and 'is likely to have contributed' to the killing, the defence psychiatrist said.

Giving evidence today , Dr Galappathie said: "At the time of the killing, he was suffering from a moderate episode of depression. In my opinion, it would have affected his ability to form a rational judgement, and it would have affected his ability to exercise control.

"It would not have affected his ability to understand what he was doing at the time.

"By the time of the killing, he would have been suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning. It is likely his depression would have clouded his thoughts and judgements."

Former industrial worker Billingham denies murdering his eight-year-old daughter in his Valley View bungalow with a 20cm blade and claims he has 'no memory' of Mylee's death on January 20.

Dr Galappathie told the court he believed the defendant's 'retrograde amnesia' was genuine.

He said the 55-year-old revealed he was struggling to sleep in the run-up to Mylee's death, waking up at 5am and suffering from low mood, a lack of appetite and low self-esteem.

The case so far:

• Father accused of murdering daughter unfit to attend court

• CCTV shows schoolgirl smiling with her father before he allegedly killed her

• Stabbed girl ‘had defensive wounds to her hands’

• Murder accused father kicked out at police giving him first aid, court told

• Stabbed girl shouted ‘no daddy’ as father dragged her into house, court told

• Mylee Billingham mother’s frantic 999 call read out to court

The psychiatrist, who assessed Billingham at HMP Birmingham, added: "This can sometimes be a feature of individuals who commit highly traumatic offences where they have harmed loved ones, and it can sometimes be, in my experience, several years before these memories resurface.

"A lack of memory is understandable given the circumstances that occurred, which he has a great deal of difficulty accepting, due to lack of memory of the actual events."

Billingham sat slumped in the dock, with a bandage around his lower right arm and a sling holding his other arm, which was also in a dressing.

Judge Paul Farrer QC told jurors Billingham was fit to continue with his trial despite being absent from the dock since Friday due to illness.

He said: "You must not speculate as to what lies behind [the bandages], and for present purposes, it has no relevance whatsoever to any of the issues that you are going to need to determine."

Billingham also denies making a threat to kill Mylee's mother Tracey Taundry.

The trial continues.