Minister's niece 'killed lover in sex game like Amanda Knox'

THE niece of a UK defence minister has admitted stabbing a lover to death – but said she had no memory of the killing.

French investigators described the death of 24-year-old Oliver Mugnier as a sex game gone wrong. But Jessica Davies, 30, said she could not recall the circumstances of the killing.

Davies, who has dual French and British citizenship, is a niece of Quentin Davies, defence minister in charge of procurement.

A Paris court was told yesterday that she had a history of depression, violent behaviour and drug and alcohol abuse.

In November 2007, police responded to a call from Davies saying there was an injured man in her home in the affluent Paris suburb of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. She had allegedly put a knife to Mr Mugnier's throat to heighten the sexual experience, before slicing through an artery and then stabbing him "six or seven times in anger and frustration".

She then made a slurred phone call asking for an ambulance and waited for police to arrive to arrest her.

When paramedics arrived, they found her crouching naked over Mr Mugnier's body, trying to stem the flow of blood from his neck, police said. Mr Mugnier died in hospital soon afterwards.

Davies had met him at a bar on the night of the killing, and French investigators said his injuries resulted from a sex game that went too far.

Detectives believe Davies could have been influenced by the murder in Italy of Meredith Kercher, 21, the British student stabbed by Amanda Knox and her boyfriend during a sex game.

A French police spokesman said at the time: "When we arrested Davies, she was paralytically drunk and we could get no sense out of her until the next day.

"She spoke to us of the case in Italy and it may be that she was inspired by what happened there."

Tests revealed that Davies had a high level of alcohol in her blood on the night of the incident, and witnesses told the court yesterday that the former model had a long history of drink and drugs problems.

Her mother, Monique Henry, a literature professor and French citizen, acknowledged that her separation from Davies's father – a British businessman who left his family to move to Italy with his mistress – had upset her daughter deeply.

"Jessica was shattered by her parents' difficulties," she said, adding that in the months before the crime, Davies had taken to cutting her own arms and legs. "She seemed totally empty," Ms Henry said.

Davies said the psychological help she had received in prison while awaiting trial had helped her. "I'm finally able to name my feelings and master my emotions," she told the court.

London-born Davies is said to have slipped into a spiral of depression after she realised she would never achieve her dream of becoming a model.

Police described her as "psychologically fragile".

Her uncle, the diplomat turned businessman Quentin Davies, has served at Westminster for more than 20 years.

Originally elected as a Conservative, Mr Davies defected to the Labour Party in 2007 – a move that won him the post of junior defence minister in charge of procurement.

Educated at Cambridge and Harvard, Mr Davies reportedly made his fortune at the British bank Morgan Grenfell. He served as president of the bank's French operations.

If convicted of the stabbing, Jessica Davies faces 30 years in prison. A ruling is expected today.