A Margate man has admitted murdering mum-of-one Claire Knights.
Harrison Lawrence-van Pooss, 21, appeared at Canterbury Crown Court today {December 17) via video link from Broadmoor.
Claire, 54, was initially reported missing from the village of Upstreet on Wednesday 23 August last year.
Claire’s vehicle, a silver Suzuki car, was recovered from Shuart Lane, St Nicholas At Wade. The artist is believed to have walked from there to Minnis Bay with her dog, where she is reported to have been seen later that afternoon.
Shortly after 7pm on Friday 25 August, Kent Police officers attended the scene between St Nicholas At Wade and Minnis Bay where Claire was found deceased.
Lawrence-Van Pooss had concealed her body, meaning Claire was not discovered for two days. A post-mortem concluded that her death was caused by blunt force trauma.
An insight into his mindset was given by the prosecutor that, after he murdered Claire, he took her dog to a nearby shop to buy treats for it. The dog was with him when he was later arrested by police.
Lawerence-Van Pooss also admitted one charge of upskirting of a different woman, which took place the day before Claire’s murder. After he was confronted and police were called, he went on the run.
Detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate arrested him on suspicion of murder the following day. He was then detained for assessment by medical professionals.
On September 18,2023, Harrison Lawrence-van Pooss was charged with murder.
Sentencing is scheduled for February 27th and 28th.
Natalie Smith from 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.”
A tribute issued by Claire’s family last year 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.”
This is absolutely scandalous beyond belief and should not be swept under the faceless wonders carpet.
Question 1. What was this mentality dangerous person out in public????.
Question 2. Clare’s body was found apparently by members of her family the next day after she had disappeared. Despite police saying they had conducted a search of the area but they could not find “ any trace” of her why not the family soon found her when they looked.
I couldn’t agree more.
1. He was not mentally dangerous-there are in depth reports out there now that show he is just a manipulative turd who played that routine to try to mitigate & delay justice. He even concoted a ludicrous story that she came onto him & he got angry & killed her-made even more farcical by his admission that not long before he was upskirting women for his perverse sexual gratification. He went on the run the day before, but seemingly had no prior convictions or any reason for the police to have detained him.
2. He had concealed the body & you often find this in cases-quite possibly a caught body moving via water or things moving in thw water such as logs, reeds etc ala the Nicola Bulley case, or decomposition setting in-meaning it would be more detectable via nose. It was quite a large area they were looking for her in.
Nice man ,at home in Bradford for many years to come
No mental health defence!!!???
But they can t mean that somebody who does these horrendous things to a complete stranger is somehow completely sane, can they? There MUST be something not right in his head!
I,m not saying that he can be excused.He will get life for murder. But I hope somebody in the prison system will try to rummage around in his confused brain. To find out what led to this.
Otherwise,he will have a quiet undisturbed life inside never being treated.
Problem is if they were truly deranged & not in control of their actions they would be killing people inside of, or in front of police stations, or trying this stuff in busy shops. But they don’t, do they?
They often plan out these crimes-striking in the dark, watching victims in advance to see their movements, going to remote areas like this clown etc. Afraid that personality traits are not mental illness-if it was & we all did like him or other criminals, then most of us would be locked up.
What led to it? Who knows? Maybe his girlfriend dumped him, maybe he lost his job-but none of it is an excuse. What is clear that whether he had dark desires previously or just escalated very quickly he decided to film up women’s skirts for his sexual gratification, vanished when the police were called & then the coward waited to find a lone female victim the next day-when she fought back against his attempt at a sexual assault he decided to take her life.
You will note he didn’t go around or wait for a man to appear on the scene that could hold their own or best him in a fight, he picked on a woman he could overpower physically-combined with the upskirting the motive was sexual.
You seem to be extemely well informed on the behaviour of these people… is there something we should know?
This isn’t about mental illness, as the court has made clear. It’s a tragic reminder of the violence women continue to face and the dangerous, attitudes towards women that drive it.
His actions reveal a disturbing pattern of misogyny and violence. The day before Claire’s murder, he was caught upskirting another woman—an act that shows a complete lack of respect for women’s privacy and autonomy. This wasn’t an isolated incident; his behaviour escalated from harassment to brutal violence, showing a mindset where women are seen as targets for control or harm.
After killing Claire, he hid her body to delay her being found, which makes his actions even more calculated and dehumanising. The chilling detail that he bought treats for her dog afterwards highlights just how little empathy he had for Claire—treating her life as if it meant nothing.
My thoughts are with her family. May she rest in peace.
blah, blah, blah, blah…. same old, same old.. it’s all the fault of men… ALL men, How about we blame ALL women for the neglect OF children?
These sub-cultures have a completely distorted and skewed outlook on reality. My husband (or any of my male relatives) doesn’t have a dangerous attitude to women.
Random acts of male misogyny baffle me! Then again there is the women hatred by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and The Islamic state of Iran. What are these men so afraid of?
About 35 years ago Alex, I attended a meeting as an observer, which was mainly composed of young women, when one of them made a loud statement saying “ALL MEN ARE RAPISTS!” I was deeply offended, and the chairman had quite a job regaining control of the meeting (which was about housing incidentally) Today there is a report of a male doctor, originally from Saudi Arabia, who has just driven a car into Christmas shoppers in Germany, killing 2 people, one a child, and injuring 60, WHY? WHy? WHY? Mental illness, or what?
Who said all men? It’s not all men but this time it was a man and every other time it’s almost always a man that carries out an act of violence against both women and men. Check the statistics.
I don’t see how on earth anyone who commits such a dreadful, random, act of murder can be considered sane.
Sane people, when they’re out and about, shopping, walking their dog or whatever do not slaughter some complete stranger.
I agree I don’t think he was sane or thinking rationally when he did such a dreadful thing.
Awful. Rest in peace Claire 🌹
Rest in peace Claire
Keefogs evil wicked people can never be treated the only way I would treat him would be with a bullet in his head.
The horror that poor lady must have suffered makes me so angry.
I think some people do evil things just because they can and they get a buzz from it.
Most people would never dream of doing anything so vile thank goodness.
100 more reasons-THE DEATH SENTENCE-SHOULD BE BROUGHT BACK.
Mr.Ddurrant -I don’t think the death sentence should be brought back.
Nor do I M.M. Rees.
‘Durrant’