Folie à deux; French: [fɔli a dø]; French for “madness of two,”, or shared psychosis, is a psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief and sometimes hallucinations are transmitted from one individual to another. In the case of Ursula and Sabina Eriksson, Swedish twins, Folie à deux resulted in reckless behavior and homicide.
Identical twin sisters, Ursula and Sabina Eriksson were born in Sweden on November 3, 1967, and grew up in Sunne, Värmland, with an older sister named Mona and an older brother named Björn. They grew up with no apparent history of mental health issues or criminal tendencies, and were seemingly normal. By the year 2000, Ursula had moved to the United States, while her sister, Sabina, had moved to Mallow, County Cork, Ireland with her partner and two children.
In 2008, Ursula traveled to Ireland to visit with her sister, and once again, the sisters were inseparable. On Friday, May 16, 2008, the girls secretly leave Sabina’s home, heading for Liverpool, England. They arrived at 8:30am on Saturday morning, and quickly went to the St. Anne Street Police Station where they reported concerns over the safety of Sabina’s children. Not understanding why the women felt they couldn’t report these concerns in Ireland, the Liverpool police go ahead and contact Dublin to follow up. Turns out, Sabina had had a fight with her partner the previous night, prior to disappearing.
Without notice, Ursula and Sabina left again, at around 11:30am that morning, boarding a National Express coach, heading to London. They wouldn’t make it there on the coach, however. The driver made an unscheduled stop at Keele services, a motorway service station when the women claimed they were not feeling well. When they came back to board the coach once more, the driver refused to let them on, citing erratic and suspicious behavior. They clutched their bags tight to their bodies, and whispered back and forth. The driver asked to search their bags, but they refused. The driver informed the manager of the service station before leaving them behind.
The service station manager also felt their behavior to be suspicious, so she called the police. Officers arrived on scene, and spoke with Ursula and Sabina, but left soon afterward, believing they were harmless.
Having lost their ride, the women set off on foot, walking down the central reservation of the M6 motorway before attempting to cross it. Spotted on CCTV, Sabina was struck by a SEAT Leon (a hatchback small family car). Highways Agency officers responded to the incident, as well as police from the Central Motorway Police Group. Coincidentally, the police that arrived on scene had the crew from Motorway Cops with them, filming a new episode.
Police, expecting Sabina to have sustained serious injuries, they were surprised to find her standing on the north direction shoulder of the motorway. Police, being briefed on the situation never expected when, without warning, Ursula broke free and ran into the side of an oncoming semi-truck, traveling at a rate of approximately 56 mpg. Seconds later, Sabina runs into traffic, getting hit head on by a Volkswagen Polo, also traveling at high speed.
Expecting to have two casualties, the police were shocked to find both women still alive. Ursula’s legs were crushed, bones protruding from the skin, when the trailer of the semi truck rolled over her, while Sabina lay unconscious for approximately fifteen minutes. Paramedics rushed to their sides, and again, did not expect what happened next. Ursula, on the ground, unable to use her legs, began scratching, spitting, and screaming at the medics trying to help her. Police had to restrain her as she shouted, “I recognise you – I know you’re not real.” She makes moves to try to get up, but cannot and blames the officers, shouting curses and profanities at them.
Sabina regained consciousness and also began shouting, “They’re going to steal your organs!” It took a little work, but officers were able to calm her and keep her under control. A moment later, she was up, despite the officers efforts to restrain her. She started screaming for help, calling for police, even though they were there trying to help her. She crossed to the center of the motorway, pursued by an officer who she turned and hit in the face, before running into traffic on the other side of the motorway.
Officers pursued her, but she just wanted to fight. She kept running from them, even threw her sweater to the ground. It took six officers to restrain her and get her back to the other side of the motorway. She fought and screamed, and had inhuman strength. Holding her down on the ground, she was handcuffed and sedated before being transported to the hospital.
Trying to understand what is going on, officers suspect drugs, alcohol, or even head injury was causing them to act so erratically. They even considered that the twins had a suicide pact. Later, their older brother claimed in a Swedish newspaper, that his sisters were fleeing from maniacs who were chasing them.
Going through their bags, they find multiple cell phones, 1 passport, clothing, a laptop, cigarettes, but no addresses for either.
In the hospital, Ursula is in critical condition, and Sabina became calm and controlled. She displayed a complete lack of concern over her sister’s injuries, and was even released five hours later – into police custody.
The officers escorting her to the jail, were shocked at how relaxed she was. While she was being processed, she laughed, chatted, flirted.. She was more concerned about what she was going to be allowed to wear, and still didn’t ask about Ursula. When she was questioned about her mental state, and asked if she had ever tried to harm herself, Sabina responded, “No, sir, I would never do that.” Asked once more, she responded, “No, never.”
Meanwhile, at the hospital, blood drawn from Ursula showed no trace of drugs or alcohol of any kind.
Sabina pleaded guilty to the charges of trespass on the motorway and hitting a police officer, and therefore was not subjected to a full psychiatric evaluation. She was sentenced to one day in custody, which she had already served, having spent a full night in police custody, and was released.
But that was not the end. Sabina left court and began to wander the streets of Stoke-on-Trent, looking for her sister in the hospital. She carried all her belongings in a large clear plastic bag that was given to her by police, and wore her sister’s green top. At around 7pm that evening, two local men spotted her while walking their dog on Christchurch Street, Fenton.
54 year old Glenn Hollinshead and his friend Peter Molloy struck up a conversation with Sabina while she pet the dog. They noticed she was behaving nervously, which worried Peter, but Glenn chose to give her the benefit of the doubt. Sabina asked Glenn and Peter for directions to any nearby bed and breakfasts, or hotels.
Knowing there was nothing in the area, Glenn offered to let her stay at his house for the night
on nearby Duke Street. She accepted his offer and relaxed, explaining how she was trying to locate her hospitalized sister. They had some drinks at the house, and she continued behaving oddly, getting up frequently and looking out the window. Peter began to suspect she had run away from an abusive partner. He also found it odd that Sabina offered them both cigarettes, only to snatch them from their mouths a moment later, claiming they may be poisoned.
When asked about her sister, Sabina went silent. She spent the night, but Peter left just before midnight as his own paranoia and fear spiked.
The next day, Glenn offered to help locate Sabina’s sister, Ursula. He called his brother, who worked at the local hospital.
Later that evening, at around 7:40pm, Glenn went and asked a neighbor for some tea bags, then went back inside. A minute later, he came back out staggering and bleeding. His neighbor was still out, and he told him, “She stabbed me,” before collapsing to the ground.
His neighbor quickly called 9-9-9, but it was too late; Glenn had already died.
Sabina ran out of the house, carrying a hammer, which she periodically hit herself in the head with. A concerned motorist, seeing the hammer, blood on her head, and her matted hair, jumped out of his car and tackled her, trying to take control of the hammer. As they wrestled, Sabina screamed, and pulled a roof tile from her pocket and struck the motorist on the back of the head, stunning him temporarily.
Paramedics spotted her and pursued her, stopping at Heron Cross, where Sabina jumped from a 40ft high bridge, onto the A50. The jump broke both her ankles and fractured her skull, and she was taken to the hospital.
On June 6, 2008, Sabina was arrested at University Hospital of North Staffordshire, and was discharged in a wheelchair on September 11, 2008 when she was taken into custody and charged with murder. Her sister, Ursula was also released from the hospital in September, and relocated back to Sweden, and then the US.
Sabina’s trial was scheduled for February 2009, but was adjourned when the court had difficulties in obtaining her medical records from Sweden. The trial was rescheduled to September 1, 2009.
Sabina pleaded guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility on September 2, 2009, having stabbed Glenn Hollinshead five times with a kitchen knife. She never explained her actions, or responded to any questioning with an answer other than, “No comment.”
Both the prosecution and defence claimed that Sabina was insane at the time of the killing, although she had become sane once again by the time of her trial.
Sabina Eriksson was a “secondary” sufferer of folie à deux, influenced by the presence or perceived presence of her twin sister Ursula– the “primary” sufferer.
The prosecution at Nottingham Crown Court accepted Sabina’s plea on September 2, 2010; Justice Saunders concluding that Sabina had a “low” level of culpability for her actions:
I understand that this sentence will seem entirely inadequate to the relatives of the deceased. However, I have sentenced on the basis that the reason for the killing was the mental illness and therefore the culpability of the defendant is low and therefore the sentence I have passed is designed to protect the public. It is not designed to reflect the grief the relatives have suffered or to measure the value of Mr Hollinshead’s life. No sentence that I could pass could do that. It is a sentence which I hope fairly measures a truly tragic event.
[Sabina was] suffering from delusions which she believed to be true and they dictated her behaviour. It is not one of those cases where the defendant could have done something to avoid the onset.
Sabina was sentenced to five years in prison and was sent to Bronzefield Women’s prison, where she turned to Christianity.
Gary Hollinshead was naturally critical of the justice system, which he felt had enabled Sabina to kill his brother. “”We don’t hold her 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.”
”I do question the criminal justice system for allowing somebody like this to be let out when she is capable of committing such a crime. 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… [Glenn] saw Eriksson in distress and was just trying to help. He wasn’t slow in coming forward to help somebody in distress. It was in his nature. He was trying to help. He would help anybody. If he saw a fight in the street and a guy was losing he would help.”
Sabina was released from prison in 2011, and returned to her partner and children in Ireland.
Up Next: Emilie Sagee and her Doppelganger.
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