Man who ran over and killed schoolboy described himself as a ‘monster’ – inquest

A paranoid schizophrenic who drove his car into a crowd of children outside a school, killing a 12-year-old-boy, had recorded himself on a dictaphone saying ‘I’m an animal, I’m a monster and I will kill your children’, an inquest heard.

The voice recording device, found in Terence Glover’s car after he hit and killed Harley Watson in 2019, contained “horrendous, graphic and repetitive” content which ran to 107 pages once transcribed, the lawyer for Harley’s family told Monday’s hearing in Chelmsford.

Glover had also said in previous 999 calls to police “he might run some school children over”, Essex’s senior coroner Lincoln Brookes said.

The coroner said Harley was with friends when he was struck by a car which was driven onto the pavement outside Debden Park High School in Loughton, Essex after 3pm on December 2, 2019.

Harley was pronounced dead in hospital at 4.43pm the same afternoon.

Glover admitted to the manslaughter by diminished responsibility of Harley Watson at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

He also admitted to the attempted murders of one adult and nine children who were also injured in the attack.

He was sentenced last year, while aged 52, to be detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.

Mr Brookes said: “I felt there was good reason to have an inquest because concerns have been raised about not just what happened on December 2, how it actually happened, but how it came to that in the first place.

I’m an animal, I’m a monster and I will kill your children

“Whether arms of the state and government, whether their involvement in some way either by acts or their mistake or omission in some way caused or contributed to the death.

“There are concerns raised by the family about his contact for example with the police.

“You will hear that in fact he had been in contact with the police for some considerable time, not just that year.

He said Glover said he “felt persecuted by neighbours, their children or others” and made 999 calls to police, some of them “abusive”.

“It seems that he felt so seriously about it that if they didn’t act he might do something serious, in particular he mentioned several times he might run some school children over,” Mr Brookes said.

Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby, of Essex Police, said it was “established quite quickly” that Glover’s attack “was a deliberate act, by speaking to witnesses at the scene”.

Glover was arrested hours later in his car in a pub car park several miles away after a police appeal.

A dictaphone was found in his car when he was arrested

Jesse Nicholls, for Harley’s mother Jo Fricker, said a transcript of Glover’s recordings on the device ran to 107 pages and one said: “I’m an animal, I’m a monster and I will kill your children”.

In a statement read by the lawyer, Ms Fricker said: “I miss my boy beyond words and I would give my life for Harley to have his.”

The inquest, being heard by a jury and due to last seven days, continues.