A man has admitted to murdering an artist while she as walking on the beach and then taking her dog to buy treats.
Claire Knights, 54, was reported missing on Wednesday August 23, 2023 and was discovered dead by her family between St Nicholas at Wade and Minnis Bay, while they were carrying out searches for her on Friday August 25.
The mother from Upstreet, near Canterbury, was believed to have been walking her white and brown spaniel called Zebulon, to the Minnis Bay area of Birchington before the attack.
At a hearing at Canterbury Crown Court on Tuesday, Harrison Lawrence Van-Pooss appeared via video link and pleaded guilty to Ms Knights’ murder.
Pub chef Van-Pooss, 21, changed his earlier not guilty plea to admit to murder, having denied the charge in an earlier hearing.
Van-Poos was a stranger to Ms Knight and killed her at random.
He had recently been fired from his job in a restaurant in the seaside village after being caught upskirting a woman.
However, following numerous psychiatric and psychological assessments, Van-Pooss – who has a distinctive face tattoo of a spider – finally accepted responsibility for Ms Knights’ brutal death in a hearing at Canterbury Crown Court.
Van-Pooss appeared via video link from high-security Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital in Berkshire and spoke to confirm his name and date of birth and to enter his guilty plea.
He will be sentenced in the new year in a hearing expected to take up to two days.
Pub chef Harrison Lawrence Van-Pooss, 21, has admitted murdering Claire Knights last year
Claire Knights, 54, (pictured) was found dead after going on a dog walk from St Nicholas At Wade to Minnis Bay on August 23
Ms Knights’ disappearance last summer sparked a widespread search from police, the coastguard and Kent Search and Rescue and lifeboat crews, as well as from family, friends and the local community.
Her body was tragically found in a dyke in Minnis Bay, Birchington, on August 25.
Ms Knight had been reported missing two days earlier after her dog, a springer spaniel called Zebulon, had been found on the beach with Van-Pooss.
Her Suzuki car was also discovered abandoned in nearby St Nicholas at Wade.
A statement from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) today said Van-Pooss had taken her dog to a nearby shop ‘to buy treats for it’ after the murder, which gave ‘insight into his mindset’.
After it emerged that Ms Knight had disappeared he was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Her cause of death was later given as blunt force trauma and drowning.
Ms Knights, of Canterbury in Kent, and her killer were not known to each other, the CPS said.
Van-Pooss had himself been the subject of a Kent Police ‘Missing Person’ appeal on the evening of August 22.
He had been fired from his job at The Powell bar and restaurant in Birchington earlier that day after being caught on CCTV using his phone to film up a woman’s skirt.
Claire Knights’ spaniel, Zebulon, was taken by Van Pooss to buy treats after his owner was killed
As well as pleading guilty to murder, Van-Pooss has also admitted an offence of operating equipment under clothing to observe another without consent and for the purposes of sexual gratification.
Having been arrested and subsequently charged last year, several court hearings followed with his trial being adjourned on at least two occasions.
Many of Ms Knights’ family and friends have attended court on each occasion and were again present for Van-Pooss’ change of plea.
In a tribute following her death, the mum and well-known member of the art community in Kent was described as a ‘trailblazer in life’.
The sculptor’s achievements included teaching art in two prisons in the early 1990s and graduating from The Margate School with a masters last year, where she was praised as being ‘outstanding and exceptional’.
Prior to events in August last year, Lawrence Van-Pooss had no previous convictions.
His trial had been due to start in June but was adjourned at the request of his defence team following several days of legal argument.
It was said on that occasion that prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said Van-Pooss had been ‘manipulating and malingering’ proceedings for months.
Claire Knight is believed to have walked from St Nicholas At Wade in Kent to Minnis Bay
Ms Morgan added that having previously claimed to have no memory of events, he then gave a ‘preposterous’ account to a medical expert just a week before his trial was due to start, claiming he’d become ‘angered’ by Ms Knights making ‘unwanted’ sexual advances towards him.
Ms Morgan described his story as ‘an elaborate and disgraceful pack of lies’ which had been ‘unbelievably carefully crafted’ to address the scientific evidence and provide a reason for why he had acted so violently.
The court was also told that Van-Pooss had ‘exaggerated his symptoms’ and made an ‘extraordinary effort to distort’ neuropsychological assessment scores.
Explaining how he had behaved ‘suspiciously poorly’, Ms Morgan argued: ‘Some of the scores he has achieved are triple that of a diagnosed schizophrenic detained within Broadmoor.’
However, his legal team, led by Stephen Moses KC, argued that more time was required for further assessment and expert opinion in what was a ‘complex’ case with ‘stakes so high’.
With the adjournment granted, a new trial date was fixed for September.
However, the case was then delayed for a second time, pushing any potential trial back to March next year.
Today, however, Mr Moses conceded that following a further report it was now accepted that the partial defence of diminished responsibility was not available.
He also told the court that Van-Pooss now asserts that his claim about Ms Knights’ actions was ‘a false memory on his part’.
Judge Simon James remanded Lawrence Van-Pooss back into custody after he pleaded guilty.
The mother-of-one was reported missing on August 23 before her body was found two days later
Ms Morgan told the court that notwithstanding the guilty pleas, it was likely that the defence would seek at that hearing ‘to rely on some suggested mental health issues’ in mitigation that would require careful consideration and set against the observations of the prosecution psychiatrist.
Natalie Smith, senior prosecutor with the CPS, said: ‘We hope that today’s guilty plea brings some small comfort to Claire’s family and friends, knowing that the man who murdered her has finally acknowledged and taken responsibility for his horrendous actions on that fateful day.
‘Now that the defence team have had the opportunity to fully consider whether Harrison Lawrence-Van Pooss had any mental health defence to the charge of murder, they have agreed with the prosecution expert witness that he does not have any defence available to him.
‘This has finally, after all these months of uncertainty, led to today’s guilty plea to the murder of Claire Knights.
‘Sadly Claire’s murder is a tragic reminder of the violence against women and girls which exists in our society today.
‘At the CPS, our role is to bring the perpetrators of that violence to justice and today that has been delivered.
‘Our thoughts remain very much with everyone who knew Claire at this exceptionally difficult time.’
Following her death, a family statement released by Kent Police said: ‘Claire was a loving mum, partner, daughter and sister. An amazing contemporary artist, a trailblazer in life.
‘She loved animals and in particular her springer spaniel, Zebulon.
‘We, the family, are struggling to come to terms with the fact she is no longer with us. We wish to thank friends and the community for their active support and kind words.’
Art school The Margate School also paid tribute to Ms Knights, saying: ‘She was an outstanding and exceptional artist, whose work reflected her complex, loving nature.
‘Her sculptural work had elements of humour and wit alongside the determination.’
The sentencing for Van-Pooss may take up to two days on dates to be set in the new year.
