ONE of the Huddersfield men accused of plotting to behead singer Joss Stone is so unaware of what was going on around him he behaves “like a goldfish in a bowl” a jury has been told.  

Junior Bradshaw suffered from a form of mental illness which causes him to have incoherent and disorganised thoughts and renders him incapable of thinking like a normal person.  

A psychiatrist said he has such a poor concept of time that he thinks the alleged murder plot only happened two or three months ago, instead of in June 2011.  

He also has such serious problems that he is not aware what he is accused of committing.  

Bradshaw and his former flatmate Kevin Liverpool deny plotting to kill, injure and rob the superstar singer at her home in East Devon.  

Liverpool is a former student at All Saints Catholic College in Bradley while Bradshaw attended Royds Hall High.   Bradshaw has told the jury he had no idea of what was going on and thought he was on ‘a day out’ when the two men set out in the early hours of the morning towards Devon.  

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Michael Alcock said he interviewed Bradshaw at Exeter prison three months ago and saw him again in the cells yesterday.  

He said: “He is not concerned that he had been in custody for 21 months. He is not fazed by the fact he has been locked up for so long. In a sense his mental illness and learning difficulties are protecting him.  

“If you ask him he says it feels like two or three months. Ironically, his disorder is helping him get through.   

“Each day is the same to him. He is like a goldfish in a bowl. It doesn’t bother him.”  

Bradshaw, aged 32, and Liverpool, aged 35, – who had been living at Longsight in Manchester – both deny conspiracy to murder, rob or cause grievous bodily harm to Joss Stone, in June 2011.  

Bradshaw grew up in Huddersfield and met Liverpool in the town.  

The jury have been told that he has a previous conviction for indecent exposure on the steps of Leeds town hall.  

The prosecution allege they planned to attack her at her isolated country home in East Devon.  

They say notes written by Liverpool show they wanted to behead her using a Samurai sword because of her links to the Royal family, including singing at charity events run by Prince William and Prince Harry and attending the wedding of William and Kate Middleton.  

They say they had scouted her home and were on their way to attack her armed with the sword, three knives, two hammers, masks, gloves, hosepipe and a makeshift body bag when they were arrested in Cullompton.  

Liverpool has chosen not to give evidence and none has been called on his behalf. Dr Alcock was called by Bradshaw’s defence team.      

He said Bradshaw suffers from a condition called hebephrenic schizophrenia which is combined with an IQ of between 55 and 65 which classes his as having a mild learning disability.  

He said his condition was first diagnosed in 2005 and by 2007 he reported hearing voices in his head. He smiles for no reason at the wrong times and repeats phrases such as ‘just chilling’ and ‘keeping my head down’ regardless of what questions he is asked.  

Dr Alcock said the schizophrenia drug Respiredone alleviates the symptoms but Bradshaw’s condition deteriorates when he stops taking it, as he did in 2011.  

The psychiatrist said he asked the patient about this arrest.

He said: “He certainly minimalised what the allegations against him were. He was quite vague and did not fully understand what he was charged with.”  

He said Bradshaw should have been sent to supported accommodation with specially trained staff when he was released from a mental ward at Manchester Royal Infirmary 14 months before the alleged conspiracy.  

He said: “He is a very vulnerable man. There were concerns about a man with his psychotic illness and learning difficulties. Normally such an individual would go to supported accommodation where social and care workers could monitor his mental state.  

“He should be taking Respiredone for the foreseeable future and probably lifelong or until a better drug becomes available.  

“His thinking is fragmented and disorganised. When he speaks it is incoherent because his thought is not logically chained together.

“His illness causes rather simplistic behaviour and needs. His behaviour is aimless and empty of purpose. He is also not very bright. In trying to improve his thinking skills, there is not a lot to work with.  

“His schizophrenia can impact on his learning difficulties so his thinking becomes even more impaired.”  

Under cross examination he accepted that two reports by a nurse and a doctor in the three months before his arrest had been positive, but his mental state would have been deteriorating because he had stopped taking his medication.