French court sentences niece of British junior minister to 15 years in prison for murder

France: Niece of UK official convicted of murder

VERSAILLES, France — The niece of a British junior minister was convicted of murder on Tuesday for the stabbing of a young man she had picked up in a pub in France, and she was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The court in Versailles, a suburb of Paris, ruled a day after Jessica Davies, 30, had testified: “I cannot remember having killed Olivier, but I take responsibility for it.” She told the court she had blacked out during the killing of 24-year-old Olivier Mugnier in 2007 and that she was “still searching for an explanation.”

Davis, who is a dual French-British citizen, is a niece of Quentin Davies, Britain’s junior defense minister in charge of procurement. British media have closely covered the criminal case, with photos of Davies in handcuffs on the front page of some newspapers.

Jessica Davies, who had been drinking heavily before the killing in her apartment in the affluent Paris suburb of Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Versailles, said she met Mugnier at an Irish pub, invited him back to her apartment and had sex with him. She said the last thing she remembered before blacking out was gazing at the back of the victim.

“What I did terrifies me, ” Davies told the court, which does not require defendants to plead innocent or guilty in such cases. She expressed deep regret to the victim’s family and promised never again to drink “even a drop of alcohol.”

Witnesses told the court that Davies had a history of depression, violent behavior and drug and alcohol abuse.

Aurelie Grignon, one of Davies’ lawyers, said her client had attempted suicide, then unsuccessfully sought treatment at a mental hospital — events that came several months before the killing. “Jessica Davies is neither bad, nor cruel, nor perverse,” the lawyer said. “She asked for help, she cried out for help but nobody heard her.”

Before the verdict, prosecutor Myriam Quemener requested a 12-year sentence accompanied by court-ordered counseling.

“There is a risk she could be a repeat offender. She must be supervised,” Quemener said. In addition to the 15 years in prison, the court ordered 10 years of counseling and other supervision.

In November 2007, French authorities responded to a call from Davies saying there was a wounded man in her home. The victim had multiple stab wounds to the throat and thorax. He died shortly after medics’ arrival.

French investigators have suggested that Mugnier’s wounds resulted from a sex game that went too far.

Davies’ mother, Monique Henry, a literature professor and French citizen, testified that her separation from Davies’ father — a British businessman who left his family to move to Italy with his mistress — deeply upset her daughter. Henry also said that in the months before the crime, Davies had taken to cutting her own arms and legs.

Davies’ uncle, diplomat-turned-businessman Quentin Davies, has served in Britain’s parliament for more than 20 years. Originally elected as Tory, he defected to Britain’s governing Labor Party in 2007 — a move which won him the post of junior defense minister in charge of procurement.

The Cambridge and Harvard-educated Davies reportedly made his fortune at British bank Morgan Grenfell. He served as president of the bank’s French operations.