A madness of two. This has been used to describe all kinds of strange behaviour as exhibited by pairs. Very rarely has an official diagnosis of folie à deux been so broadly broadcast, or partially accepted, as in the case of the Eriksson twins.
Ursula and Sabina Eriksson were born on November 3rd, 1967, in Sunne, Värmland, Sweden. They grew up with an older sister named Mona, and an older brother named Björn.
Very little is known about the twins. Some have stated that they were a little odd at school, and sometimes had a tendency to be violent. Other than that, their early years are a mystery. By the year 2000, reports state that Ursula lived in the United States, possible Washington, and Sabina was living in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland with her partner and two children.
In May of 2008, Ursula went to visit Sabina in Ireland. There, they grew near inseparable, always whispering to each other, and snapping at anyone who approached them. On the evening of Friday, May 16th, 2008, the twins left Ireland for Liverpool, England. Some say they took a ferry, though this could never be confirmed.
However the twins managed to arrive in Liverpool, it is known that by 8:30 AM on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 they made their way to St. Anne Street Police Station. There, the twins expressed their concerns over the care of Sabina’s children. They were afraid that the children weren’t safe.
Liverpool Police took their concerns seriously, and were quick to contact police in Dublin. Their contacts in Dublin got in touch with Sabina’s partner, who informed them that Sabina and her sister Ursula had disappeared without a word the day before, following a disagreement between Sabina and her partner. The partner also reassured police that the children were safe and sound.
With nothing else they could do, Liverpool Police gave Sabina the contact information for the police in Dublin, and told her follow up if she had any additional concerns upon her return home to Ireland.
Satisfied, the twins left the police station. They were next seen boarding a National Express Coach around 11:30 AM. They were heading towards London.
Next, the twins were seen getting off the coach at the Keele Services service station. One report states the twins disembarked because they weren’t feeling well. Other reports disagree. Vehemently.
The driver asked the twins to get off the bus at the service station around 1:00 PM as he grew highly suspicious of their behaviour. The twins had refused to check their bags, and were clutching them close to their chests. He would not let them re-board the coach until he searched their bags for illegal items. When the twins refused, the bus driver left them there, and informed the service station manager that they were her problem now.
Melissa Dutton noticed much of the same odd behaviour, and was on edge as she regarded the twins. Ursula and Sabina were pacing back and forth in the parking lot. They kept clutching their bags, whispering to each other, looking as if they were plotting. Suspicious and not wanting anything bad to happen, Melissa called the police.
When Police arrived, they spoke to the twins, but found them to be harmless. The twins were left there, with a number to call the coach company, and make a booking for the next coach through to make it to London.
They didn’t wait for the next coach.
Instead, Ursula and Sabina were seen walking down the central reservation of the M6 on CCTV cameras. Then, one after the other, the twins jumped the barricade, and attempted to run across traffic, causing chaos in their wake. Neither sister was injured, despite Sabina being hit by a SEAT León.
Seeing what was happening on CCTV, Highway Agency officers were dispatched to intervene, with the assistance of the Central Motorway Police Group. While Highway Agency officers aren’t police, they do assist in all matters regarding traffic flow along the M6, and other major roadways, as well as setting up blockades and detours when necessary.
When the officers all arrived, they were also being accompanied by a camera crew from the BBC. They were in the middle of filming an episode of Motorway Cops when the call about the Eriksson sisters came in. No one could have predicted what was about to happen.
Standing along the shoulder of the road, the twins appeared calm and rational. They were speaking to officers normally when all hell broke loose. Ursula suddenly bolted. An officer tried to grab for her, but he only managed to get her out of her coat. Then, Ursula was hit by a large lorry (a transport trailer, or 18-wheeler for us North American folks), travelling 90 km/h (or 56 mph). She fell to the ground, her legs crushed, her upper body unharmed.
Sabina seemed to follow her sister, as if knowing she needed to, as if it was planned. She was hit head-on by a Volkswagen, travelling at high speed. She was propelled into the air, and dropped to the ground, unconscious.
At first, the officers who responded to the scene were stunned. The two women had been standing, calm cool and collected just a few moments prior. What could have possibly motivated them to run head-first into oncoming traffic along the M6? At the time, they believed that the women may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A less popular theory was that Ursula and Sabina had formed a suicide pact – prompting one sister to follow the other when she ran into traffic.
Miraculously, both sisters survived. When approached by police and paramedics, Ursula fought. She screamed, spat, and scratched at the teams trying to assist her. As one officer attempted to restrain her, she told him: I recognize you; I know you’re not real”. This further solidified the officer’s theory that the twins were under the influence or an intoxicant, or mind altering substance.
Around the same time, Sabina was regaining consciousness. She started shouting for police, and screamed at them: “They’re going to steal your organs!” Neither sister, when asking for police, and screaming for help, seemed to understand that they were being helped by police.
Sabina then sprung to her feet, despite many attempts to keep her down on the ground. She spun around, and punched the officer assisting her in the face. From there, she jumped over the reservation again, and ran across the other side of the M6. Thankfully, the drivers could see what was happening, and they were able to stop traffic before Sabina could be struck again.
Sabina was sprinting and jumping around, as though preparing for a fight. During this time, Ursula was being strapped to a gurney, and paramedics were preparing to air lift her to hospital.
It took six individuals – police and paramedics alike – to restrain Sabina and get her down on the ground. Her strength at the time was described as “incredible”. Sabina was restrained, but paramedics were very concerned about her fighting, and refused to take her in without sedating her. They were finally able to get her sedated and calm.
The sisters were then taken to a facility that specialized in mental health treatment for their injuries – Ursula was airlifted, and Sabina taken by ambulance. When investigating the scene, police found evidence of many borken cell phones strewn across the motorway.
In hospital, Ursula was stabilized, and tests were run. While the injuries to her legs were extensive, the blood work done found no indication of alcohol or drugs in her system.
Ursula spent three months in hospital, recovering and recuperating. Sabina, appearing calm and collected, was released into police custody five hours after her arrival in hospital. Her blood work was never done.
Sabina Eriksson was relaxed and calm as she answered police questions and was being processed. Eerily, she told officers: “We say in Sweden that an accident rarely comes alone. Usually at least one more follows – maybe two.”
When police asked about her medical history, Sabina indicated that she had never wanted to self-harm, or that she had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the events of what transpired on the motorway. Not once did she ask after her sister, Ursula.
It almost appeared as though Sabina had no recollection of the events. Or, she wanted to appear as calm as possible. Or, most likely, she was still under the effects of the sedative that she’d been given for transport to hospital. Somehow, the officers processing her intake were not inclined to to have Sabina go through a full psychiatric evaluation.
The following day, May 19th, 2008, Sabina pleaded guilty in a court of law for trespass on the motorway, and for assaulting a police officer. She was sentenced to one day in custody, which she’d already served. Ursula was still in hospital, but wasn’t charged with anything. Sabina walked away from court, her belongings in a clear plastic bag, wearing her sister’s green jacket.
Police contacted Sabina’s partner in Ireland to inform him of Sabina’s situation. He appeared to be flabbergasted. Sabina had never exhibited this kind of behaviour before. He expressed that he had no idea where Sabina had gone, before he’d been contacted the day before, and had no idea how to get in touch with his partner. Other than that, it’s unknown whether he made plans to come see Sabina, or try to somehow get in touch with her.
Left to her own devices, Sabina began walking through the streets of Stoke-on-Trent. In the clear plastic bag of her belongings were £1,000, and her laptop. Around 7:00 PM, she came across two men walking with a dog.
54-year-old Glenn Hollinshead, and his friend Peter Molloy had been drinking down at their local. Glenn was a welder, qualified paramedic, and a former RAF airman. When Sabina shouted at them from across the street that they had a nice dog, Glenn, ever so friendly, stopped to chat with her. She petted the dog, and told the men that she was looking for her sister. Her sister had been hurt, and was in hospital, she said, but she didn’t know which one.
Peter wasn’t as convinced of Sabina’s seemingly friendly demeanour. He didn’t know why she was carrying her things in a plastic bag, or if they were even hers. She seemed to be acting nervous, and he was set on edge that she seemed not to know where her own sister was. Peter’s worry only grew when Glenn offered his home to Sabina. She was looking for a hotel, or bed and breakfast, but there weren’t many in the area. Concerned for his friend, Peter followed the pair back to Glenn’s home on nearby Duke Street.
Sabina’s behaviour grew more and more odd as the trio got back to Glenn’s home, and chatted over a few drinks. Sabina would suddenly sprint to the window, look through the blinds, replace them to rights, and then sit back down, over and over again. Peter suspected at the time that she may have been wary of an abusive partner, or of another person coming to harm her.
Sabina smoked from a pack of cigarettes all night. But when she would offer one to the two men, she would quickly snatch them back, claiming they were poisoned. She would also shut down any attempts to ask about her sister. She would change the subject, or turn cold.
Peter was worried for his friend, but Glenn seemed to think that Sabina was just being “quirky. Shortly before midnight, Peter left Glenn’s home.
Around midday, Glenn phoned his brother, Paul. Paul worked in the health care field, and may have a lead on tracking Ursula down. Paul could hear Sabina’s voice in the background, but found Glenn to be generally cheerful. He just wanted to help this woman find her sister. Paul said he would phone around, and call back when he had more information.
Around 7:40 PM, Glenn was preparing a meal when he left his home, running into his neighbour. He asked the neighbour if he had any tea bags to spare. The neighbour was washing his minibus at the time, and told Glenn that he’d get those tea bags for him when he was finished. Satisfied, Glenn went back into his house.
A few seconds later, he came staggering back outside, bleeding. “She stabbed me,” he told his neighbour. Glenn then collapsed onto the ground, and asked his neighbour, who was calling for emergency services, to look after his dog. Then, Glenn passed. He suffered five stab wounds with a kitchen knife, one hitting him in the heart.
As Glenn was lying on the ground, Sabina fled the house, and took off running down the street, holding a hammer. She was seen on nearby CCTV. As she was running, she was sporadically hitting herself over the head with the hammer. Blood was apparent on the front of her shirt, and was matted in her hair.
As he was driving by, Joshua Grattage noticed the strange scene. He pulled over, and attempted to stop Sabina hitting herself. As they were wrestling, Sabina took a roof tile from her pocket, and struck Joshua on the back of the head with it. Sabina took off running again.
By this time, paramedics had arrived, and gave chase. At Heron Cross, Sabina had no options left. She jumped from the bridge, a drop of about 12-meters (about 40 feet), onto the A50, a major trunk road between Warrington and Leicester.
Sabina Eriksson survived running and jumping into traffic not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times. She survived her fall, but she shattered both of her ankles, and fractured her skull. She was stabilized, and taken to hospital.
She was arrested on June 6th, 2008 for the murder of Glenn Hollinshead while still recovering from her injuries.
On September 11th, 2008, she was discharged in a wheelchair, and taken into police custody. Around this time, Ursula was released from hospital. She returned to Sweden, and then eventually back to U.S.
While in police custody, Sabina was examined thoroughly by two psychiatrists; one working for the defence, and the other working for the prosecution. Both sides agreed that at the time of the motorway trespass, and of Glenn’s murder, Sabina had been severely mentally ill. However, they couldn’t quite agree on a diagnosis.
The defence posited folie à deux – a madness of two. This occurs when one individual is in the midst of a recognized, psychotic episode, and then a second individual takes on part of the psychosis. With how close the twins had become the day prior to the incident, this theory holds ground.
However, the prosecution had a differing theory. They believed that Sabina may had been having an acute polymorphic psychotic episode – also known as a puff of madness. This is considered a transient psychotic episode, where the person very abruptly becomes mentally ill for a short period, sometimes ranging from two to three weeks. Then, just as suddenly as it came on, the episode ends, and is highly unlikely to recur.
Both diagnoses are very rare, and both were based on the video footage, captured by the BBC crew on site, as well as CCTV footage.
The trial of Sabina Eriksson was originally scheduled for February, 2009, but had to be pushed when the court encountered difficulties obtaining Sabina’s medical records from Sweden.
On September 2nd, 2009, Sabina pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Glenn Hollinshead with diminished responsibility. During all attempts to question Sabina in regards to a motive for her behaviour on the days of May 16th to the 19th, 2008, she only replied with: “No comment”. Ursula was never questioned.
Sabina Eriksson’s plea was accepted at Nottingham Crown Court.
At the time of the trial, Sabina was deemed ‘fully recovered’ from her mental illness. As such, she could not be confined to a mental health facility for treatment, though the judge very much thought this would be the best course of action for her.
Alternatively, the judge also wanted to induce a no-fixed release sentence, on the condition that Sabina only be released whens he was no longer deemed a danger to herself, or others. However, having been deemed “recovered”, the judge, by law, could not issue this sentence.
The judge expressed his regret to Glenn’s family as he passed a sentence he was not entirely comfortable inducing – five years in prison, spent at the Bronzefield Women’s Prison. In 2011, Sabina was released on parole.
Reports show that she returned to Sweden, though what happened to her after that is unknown.
Garry Hollinshead, Glenn and Paul’s brother, has expressed that he feels that the criminal justice system has failed his family. He feels that if Sabina had been held on a psychiatric evaluation after being arrested for motorway trespass, his brother would still be alive.
On December 6th, 2012, footage of the incident was anonymously uploaded to the internet. The footage explicitly shows two officers agreeing that Ursula and Sabina should have been given a “136”. A “136” is a clause within the Mental Health Act that would allow for police to hold a person on account of their mental health, as well as give them a mental health assessment.
There has never been a satisfactory explanation for why this never occurred. Had Ursula and Sabina Eriksson been properly evaluated, we may have more answers than we do now, and the life of a man may have been saved.
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Sources:
The story of Sabina and Ursula Eriksson, the identical twins who caused on M6 before one went on to kill – Hayley Parker & Corrie David – WalesOnline
The Strange Case of the Eriksson Twins: Shared Psychosis, Reckless Endangerment, and Murder – Harrison Tenpas – Ranker
The Twins Who Ran into Traffic Before Stabbing a Man to Death – James McMahon – Vice
Casefile podcast – Case 17: The Eriksson Twins
Madness in the Fast Lane documentary
Ursula and Sabina Eriksson Wikipedia page