Disturbing tale of twins with ‘shared psychosis’ whose chilling antics were caught on camera before one went on to kill
RED coat billowing behind her as she weaved between traffic, it was a miracle Sabina Erikkson wasn’t killed before police managed to catch her.
A BBC crew filming a new series about traffic cops managed to capture the woman’s bizarre antics on the M6.
Sabina was knocked out for 15 minutes after being hit by a Volkswagen Polo, in which time she was pinned down by officers.
But she managed to escape their clutches and once again raced across the busy motorway seemingly unconcerned for her own safety.
In a disturbing twist, her twin sister Ursula was also filmed attempting to cross the M6 as cars thundered past.
The pair were eventually captured but it was the events in the days that followed that proved even more chilling than their shocking behaviour.
Sabina went on to kill a good Samaritan who offered to help her after apparently suffering from folie à deux, a shared psychosis.
The horror began on May 16, 2008, as Sabina and Ursula boarded a National Express coach heading from Liverpool to London.
The twins, who hailed from Sweden, began exhibiting increasingly erratic behaviour as they approached Keele services.
Police were called but after deeming them both harmless, they were free to go.
A short while later, Sabina and Ursula began walking down the central reservation of the M6 before attempting to cross to the other side.
In an incredible coincidence, the BBC were recording a series called Motorway Cops and managed to capture the startling scene.
Sabina bolted across the carriageway and into the path of an oncoming Seat Leon.
Her sister then broke free and ran into the side of an oncoming lorry travelling at 56mph, followed by Sabina who was hit head-on by the Polo.
While Ursula was being treated by paramedics – her legs crushed by the lorry – she began spitting and screaming: “I recognise you – I know you’re not real”.
Her sister regained consciousness after 15 minutes and yelled out “They’re going to steal your organs” before somehow managing to get back on her feet and once again running across the motorway.
She was eventually restrained and sedated before being rushed to hospital.
Despite her shocking behaviour, police let Sabina go while Ursula received treatment.
As she left, Sabina told an officer: “We say in Sweden that an accident rarely comes alone. Usually at least one more follows – maybe two.”
Three days later, she walked out of court without a full psychiatric evaluation after pleading guilty to trespass on the motorway and assaulting a police officer.
She began wandering the streets of Stoke-on-Trent in a bid to find her sister and stumbled across 54-year-old Glenn Hollinshead and his pal.
Sabina asked the men if they knew of any bed and breakfasts or hotels in the area but Glenn took pity on her and offered her a place in his home for the night.
His kindness was repaid with violence though when Sabina knifed Glenn to death with a kitchen knife.
The good Samaritan managed to stagger out the house to tell a neighbour “I’ve been stabbed” before collapsing in an alleyway.
Police were called but Sabina had already fled with a hammer, which she struck herself with several times in the head.
One passing motorist attempted to take the weapon from her but she battered him with a roof tile.
They had an enormously strong bond as twins. At some stage the defendant’s own psyche was overborne by her sister’s illness.
Anthony Baker KC
Sabina was only caught when she jumped from a 40ft bridge on to the A50 – breaking both ankles and fracturing her skull.
Tests later revealed Sabina had no drugs or alcohol in her system at the time of the horror.
She was charged with murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility.
Sabina gave no motive for the killing and replied “no comment” to every question in her police interview.
But in a bizarre twist, her lawyers claimed she was a “secondary” sufferer of folie à deux, while her sister was the “primary” sufferer.
Folie à deux – known as a “shared psychosis” – happens when delusional beliefs are transmitted from one person to another.
Sabina’s lawyers argued in this case, she was acting in such a way due to her sister Ursula’s own mental state.
Anthony Barker KC said: “They had an enormously strong bond as twins. At some stage the defendant’s own psyche was overborne by her sister’s illness.”
While her diminished responsibility plea was accepted, Mr Justice Saunders ruled she was suffering from her own delusions.
Folie à deux - what is the strange phenomenon?
FOLIE à deux - or shared psychosis - is an extremely rare disorder where delusions and sometimes hallucinations are transmitted from one person to another.
The condition uses affects members of a close family but is often difficult to prove.
Many symptoms are used to describe the disorder, which some critics believe is just mass hysteria.
Folie imposée is where a dominant person becomes the “primary” and imposes their own delusions on a “secondary” person.
In this case, once both patients are separated, the condition of the secondary usually improves.
This was seen in Sabina where her delusions disappeared by the time she went on trial.
Folie simultanée is another strand of a shared psychosis where individuals influence each other’s existing delusions.
Several cases are believed to have been influenced by the disorder – including “Silent Twins” June and Jennifer Gibbons, who spoke to each other in their own secretive language.
The two girls would walk in quiet unison, as if they were tied together by some invisible force. When one lifted a pencil or sipped a cup of tea, the other would do the same.
They spent 11 years in Broadmoor maximum security hospital where they believed their bond would only be broken if one twin died.
Chillingly, Jennifer passed away in May 1993 just hours after being released from Broadmoor – with her death remaining a mystery.
The Parker–Hulme murder case in New Zealand, which inspired film Heavenly Creatures, has also been linked to the disorder.
He jailed Sabina for five years – leaving her first eligible for release in 2011.
She has since returned to Sweden, while Ursula now lives in the US.
While no one will ever know what caused the sisters’ behaviour to spiral, questions still mount over why Sabina was even freed to kill.
Glenn’s brother Garry previously said: “Her mental condition should have been properly assessed after what she did on the motorway and the experiences the police had.
“Her mental disorder should have been picked up prior to her being let out in to the community.
“We don’t hold her [Sabina] responsible, the same as we wouldn’t blame a rabid dog for biting someone. She is ill and to a large degree, not responsible for her actions. But her mental disorder should have been recognised much earlier.”