It was shaping up to be a busy morning that Saturday in May two thousand and eight at Saint Anne Street Police Station in Liverpool, England. Inside the front counter staff prepared themselves for the usual calls and concerns that tended to accompany the morning after the Friday night before, having dealt with a few walk ins already. It had just gone eight thirty when the front door swung open and two women entered, carrying one large rucksack and an
over the shoulder sports bag between them. There wasn't much that the staff on duty there hadn't seen, but something about these two was a little different. The women, middle aged, with one wearing a short lime green puffer jacket and the other a long red coat, appeared to be identical twins and were clearly in a state of agitation. As the woman in the green jacket sat down, the other
approached the desk. As the woman explained the counterstaff, they had just got off the ferry that morning from Dublin, having made their way from County Cork. The woman, who gave her name as Sabina Erikson, needed help because her partner, with whom she lived in Ireland, had kidnapped her children. After taking a few more details, the counterstaff suggested Sabina
take a seat while they made a few calls. Sabina, as it transpired, was a Swedish national who'd been living in the town of Mallow in Ireland for the past few years with her partner and children. Her sister, Ursula Ericson, who lived in the United States, had flown to Ireland the previous day to spend some time with Sabina. Now the reasons that weren't entirely clear, the pair were sat in a police station in Liverpool. Having taken Sabina's address
and contact number. An officer on duty made a quick call to the Guarder, the Republic of Ireland's police force. The officer suggested they send a car round to Sabina's address to investigate her accusation. It was almost three hours later when Guarder officers arrived at Sabina's home address, only to find her partner and her children there safe and sound, with no obvious sign of anything unto ward having taken place.
As the partner explained, with Sabina's sister Ursula having just arrived out of the blue the day before, the two sisters had spent the day together before coming home to sleep. When he woke up the following morning, they were nowhere to be found. The guarder called the officer at Saint Anne Street police station to relay the information, but by that time Sabina and Ursula had gone some sixty miles
south of Liverpool along the M six motorway. Melissa Dutton, the manager of a service station located just outside Keel, was about to take her lunch when she was contacted by the driver of a coach heading from Liverpool to Victoria Station in London. The driver was requesting help with two of his passengers that he was having difficulty with. Dutton arrived in the service station car park to find Sabina and Ursula standing huddled close together next to the coach.
As the driver explained to her he'd become suspicious of the pair when they refused to place their luggage in the hold. One of the women was said to have asked the coast to stop since she was feeling unwell, but when he saw them take their bags with them, the driver became suspicious again, though he had no legal right to demand to know what was in their bags. In the wake of the July seventh tube and bus bombings in London three years previously, all transport company staff
had been encouraged to be extra vigilant. Worried that they might be hiding something, he refused to let them back on board. With not much else to be done, Dutton suggested the pair seek alternative arrangements, and then watched as they conferred quietly together, looked about the car park, and then headed off around the back of the service station. Now growing concerned by their behavior herself, Dutton made a phone call to the police, asking them to come and
speak to the women. The police found Sabina and Ursula milling about the car park, asking them what they were doing. Sabina explained that they were merely trying to get to London when they were unfair early kicked off the coach. The officers gave the women a contact number for another bus company and suggested they call them to find another
coach to take them the rest of the way. Up in the control room of the Highways Agency in Birmingham, forty five miles from Keel, agency staff work the phones in front of a vast bank of monitors displaying CCTV footage covering all major roads linked to the region. It was roughly three thirty pm when one worker spotted something unusual on one of the monitors. Sabina and Ursula making their way north up the Central Reservation as three lanes of fast moving traffic tore past them on either side.
Though not police, it is the Highway Agency's responsibility to monitor traffic, congestion and other motorway infringements. Fearing the women were in danger, a patrol vehicle was duly dispatched to gather them from the Central Reservation. Moments later, shortly before the patrol car is due to arrive, the agency worker watches in horror as the two women attempt to cross
the busy motorway. Stepping over the barrier, Sabina makes a break for it, only to be clipped by an oncoming car traveling over seventy miles an hour and knock to the ground. But then, as the agency worker watches in disbelief, Sabina merely hauls herself back to her feet and makes the way to the other side of the road, seeming completely unfazed by what had happened. Just a few miles away, two motorway police officers are being filmed for a BBC
documentary series. When the call comes in to assist the highway officers in dealing with the two women, as a steady drizzle of rain begins to fall, the officers PC and PC Finlayson arrived to find Sabina and Ursula standing by the side of the road next to their bags, being quietly spoken to by the highway officers. One of the officers approaches the police and to briefs them on what has taken place, while a BBC camera operator films
their exchange. Behind them, six lanes of traffic speed by in a monotonous cascade of Doppler engine noise as the light rain continues to fall. As one of the highway officers leans in to speak with Sabina, Ursula makes a break for it, only not over the grassy verge to her left, but straight out across the motorway. The officer spins round in an attempt to catch hold of her,
but can only grab the sleeve of her jacket. As Ursula turns back in desperation, slips free from her coat and charges headlong under the wheels of a forty ton
or truck. PC Finlayson, who had turned just in time to catch her disappearing underneath it, screamed out in horror, but before anyone has time to fathom what has happened, Sabina has also stepped out purposefully into the oncoming traffic, running straight into a Volkswagen Polo traveling at sixty miles an hour, making no attempt to get out of the way. In an instant, her body is flipped over the front,
slamming hard into the bonnet and smashing the windscreen. As the car screeches to a halt, she has flung forward again and tumbles to the ground with a sickening thud, And then for a brief moment, everything is still. With all traffic now stopped on both sides of the motorway,
Sabina and Ursula remained complete still on the tarmac. PC Finlayson yells into his walkie talkie for an immediate ambulance dispatch, knowing only too well that it's probably in vain, But as the four officers run to help, they are shocked and relieved to find that both women are still alive. Rushing to Ursula, Finlayson, seeing that her legs have been horrifically mangled, urges her to stay calm, but Ursula does nothing of the sort. Screaming for the officer to leave
her alone. She demands that he called the police. When he tries to tell her that he is the police, she only becomes more agitated. Clearly in a state of paranoia, Ursula calls out for her sister, who is still lying silently in the road, having hit her head after being struck by the car. Sabina has been knocked out cold, with paramedics now on hand to help. PC Cope is just asking for an neck brace when suddenly Sabina begins to stir. As Cope urges her to stay down, Sabina
somehow scrambles to her feet. Two minutes ago she was out cold, having been struck by a car at sixty miles per hour, and now she is standing up as if nothing has happened. As Cope tells her again to stay down, Sabina takes one look around and bolts toward the central reservation. Cope attempts to grab her, but with unusual strength, Sabina floors the police officer, pushing her to the ground. PC Finlayson gives chase and soon has Sabina cornered but rather than give up, Sabina whips off her
coat and faces down the officer. It'll take six people in total to eventually subdue her, bringing her kicking and screaming to the far side of the road, where they are eventually able to handcuff her. Still needing to get her to a hospital, paramedics are forced to administer a sedative to calm her down. As members of the public start to gather, filming the event on their mobiles. An air ambulance arrives to take Ursula to hospital, and Sabina is placed in an ambulance and taken there too. Are
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Unexplained podcast today to get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained podcast. With Ursula in a critical condition, she has whisked immediately to theater where she has operated on successfully before being taken back to Award to recover. No drugs or alcohol are found to be in her system Sabina is also checked over, but found to have only minor scratches and bruises, and her head injury is not
considered bad enough to warrant an overnight observation. Of being assessed by a psychiatrist, a police doctor, and a social worker, she is deemed fit to be released from hospital while under supervision. The woman's bags were finally searched, but revealed little more than a passport for Ursula and some clothes, but also curiously, a number of mobile phones. There is nothing else to explain what the women were doing or
where they were heading. Having been discharged from hospital, Sabina is immediately arrested and charged with trespassing on the motorway and assaulting a police officer. PC Elliot is instructed to deliver her from the hospital to the police station, having
been briefed on her earlier behavior. The Sabina who greets him outside the hospital is a far cry from the description he'd been given by now, appearing upbeat and completely oblivious of what had just taken place, it sees no reason to even apply handcuffs before asking her to take a seat in the back of the car, which she does without any resistance. Later at the station, Sabina is
processed and formally charged with the various offenses. Not once does she inquire about the health of her sister or elaborate on what the two of them were doing on the motorway. For the second time that day, Sabina's partner in Ireland is contacted by police, only this time it is to inform him that Sabina has been arrested again. He claims no knowledge of what she's doing in England. That afternoon, as officers marvel at Sabina's complete change of personality.
Few fully register the seemingly throwaway line that Sabina utters as her details are being recorded that in Sweden they have a saying. She says that an accident rarely comes alone. Usually at least one more follows, perhaps even two. Sabina's case is set to be heard in the local magistrate's court, but since it's a Saturday and they won't be open till Monday, she is ordered into a cell, where she
will stay for the next two nights. On Monday morning, Sabina is taken to Fenton Magistrate's Court, just outside the city of Stoke on Trent, where she pleads guilty to the charges and is sentenced to one day in custody. Already spent. Seeing no reason to keep her detained any longer or administer a full psychiatric evaluation, she is released later that night. Friends fifty four year old Glenn hollins Head and Peter molloy are enjoying a quick drink at
the Royal Oak Pub on Christchurch Street in Fenton. It's just gone nine thirty pm when the pair decided to call it a night and make their way back home, accompanied by Glenn's dog, who he'd brought out with him earlier. Having just left the pub, a woman called out to the men from the other side of the road, saying that she liked their dog. As Peter molloy would later state,
the woman was Sabina, who appeared to be lost. Heading over to speak with her, Sabina introduced herself and explained that she was trying to find the local hospital to check in on her sister, who was being looked after there. With it getting late, she also wondered if the men knew of any hotels nearby that she might use for the night. It was only then that Peter noticed the plastic bag she was carrying that seemed to have all her possessions in it, and wondered if they shouldn't just
move on. Glenn, however, was eager to help, Thinking it would be hard for Bena to find somewhere to stay nearby so late in the day, he suggested she come back to his house, where he could make her some food and she could use his spare room for the night. Glenn also had a brother that worked at the hospital who might be able to give them an update on how her sister was doing. Thanking him for the offer,
Sabina followed Glenn and Peter back to Glenn's house. For the next few hours, the three of them shared some drinks and chatted, but Sabina seemed unable to relax, sitting for one minute, but then getting up the next and peering suspiciously out of the window before returning to her seat.
Pulling a packet of cigarettes out of her bag, she offered one to Glen and Peter, who gladly accepted, but no sooner had they put them in their mouths, Sabina grabbed them back, telling them that they couldn't smoke them because they were poisoned. Though Glenn seemed untroubled by her behavior, Peter grew more and more uncomfortable, until finally unable to bear it any longer, he made his goodbyes and returned home.
The following day, Glenn's brother Paul, while on duty at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, received a call from Glenn asking if he could inquire as to the whereabouts of Ursula ericson. Paul said he would see what he could do and agreed to call back when he had the information. Later that day, around seven forty PM. Glenn's neighbor, Frank, was washing a minibust that he looked after in the alleyway behind his house when Glenn appeared unexpectedly, asking if
he could borrow some tea bags. Frank offered to get him some once he'd finished cleaning the vehicle. Just over a minute later, Glenn appeared again in the alleyway, only this time he was stumbling forward and clutching at his chest. She stabbed me, he said, what do you mean, said Frank, looking on in disbelief. Then he saw the blood gushing out of Glenn's neck that was also bleeding through his top. She stabbed me, said Glenn again, as he collapsed to the floor. Frank told him to hold on as he
dashed off inside to call an ambulance. By the time he returned, Glenn was dead. At that moment, Joshua Grattige was making his way toward heron Cross Roundabout in his car, just two minutes from Glenn's house, when he was distracted by a bizarre sight. It was Sabina standing on an island between two roads, covered in blood and hitting herself
in the head with a lump hammer. Thinking the blood must have been hers gratige, stopped the car immediately and attempted to wrestle the hammer out of her hand, but as he tried to grab it, Sabina fought him off. As the frantic sirens of an approaching ambulance could be heard, Sabina pushed herself free and raced off in the direction of heron cross around about positioned above the busy AD
fifty trunk road. Without looking back, Sabina made her way to the middle of a bridge section above the road, climbed over the railings and jumped. Sabina fell thirty feet to the hard concrete surface straight into oncoming traffic, breaking both her ankles and fracturing her skull, but incredibly survived. After two weeks, having been deemed to have sufficiently recovered, Sabina was arrested for the murder of Glen Hollins's head, who was found to have been stabbed five times with
a kitchen knife. However, it wouldn't be until September, three months later that Sabina was finally released from hospital, taken into custody, and formally charged with Glenn's murder. At about the same time, Ursula was also declared well enough to leave hospital. With no charges being brought against her, she was free to leave the country. After traveling to Sweden for a short time, she eventually returned to the US.
Sabina at first pleaded not guilty to the murder, then at her eventual trial in September the following year, accepted the charge of manslaughter with diminished responsibility. Prior to her trial, she was given a psychiatric assessment by teams for both the defense and prosecution, with each coming to the conclusion that she'd been suffering a psychiatric episode at the time of the killing, but by the time of her trial
was considered perfectly sane. Though a number of psychiatric explanations were put forward by the opposing legal teams, in the end, neither could say exactly what had occurred. Some believed she'd suffered an episode of what is known as folly adeur, a madness of two in which Sabina was considered to have somehow been influenced by the presence of her twin sister, who was judged to have been the instigator of the psychosis.
Others believed that she'd been suffering from an acute polymorphic psychotic disorder, which would have left Sabina experiencing terrifying hallucinations and delusions. However, since both illnesses are extremely rare and ursula was never assessed, it was virtually impossible to know for sure what had happened, and as a result, it was extremely difficult for the judge to pass a sentence.
Unable to give her an indeterminate sentence in which she would be released when she was no longer a danger to the public since she already wasn't, in the end, he was forced to give her a fixed term sentence with no obligation that she be supervised or monitored after her release throughout the entirety of her arrest and trial. When asked to explain her and her sister's actions, Sabina
replied only no comment. If you enjoy listening to Unexplained and would like to help supporters, you can now go to Unexplained podcast dot com forward slash support. All donations, no matter how large or small, are massively appreciated. All elements have Unexplained are produced by me, Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes, and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas
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