Man Convicted over another "PlayStation Murder"

Grand Theft Auto, a PlayStation 3... a man with a previously clean record; a woman's murder... a lengthy gaol sentence. This story has everything that the tabloids love. It does, however, miss on important point, but we'll get to that later.

Malcolm Palmer has been sentenced to at least 14 years in prison for stabbing his partner to death with a steak knife in front of her 10 year-old son.

Palmer's victim, Carol Cannom, had apparently become either "obsessed with computer games on the PlayStation 3" (if you believe The Daily Telegraph); she could, of course, have been murdered due to the fact that, "she became obsessed with playing Grand Theft Auto" (if you believe The Daily Mail).

Of course, the boring side details to the fact that an obviously unhinged man murdered a woman are probably less worth regaling a the general public with. The fact that Palmer believed Cannom was having an affair, for example, might be relevant. The fact that Palmer was barred from the bedroom and was - according to a variety of reports, "forced to spend hours in the cold conservatory watching a portable television while his partner played games on the Playstation in the warm", probably doesn't merit investigation; nor does it suppose that there were deeper problems in the relationship.

The words of the couple's daughter also ring out, "Their mortgage was paid and they didn't need to work. They had a lot of time on their hands and little chance to get away from each other.

"And playing on the PlayStation a lot was just a release, a bit of escapism, neither of them were happy by that time."

Video gaming a symptom not a cause? Surely not.