The terrifying consequences of sleepwalking: Sleep scientist recalls terrifying 1988 case of a man who drove his car and murdered his mother-in-law without waking [Video]

03:04 EDT 22 Jul 2024, updated 04:22 EDT 22 Jul 2024

A sleep scientist spoke about a bizarre sleepwalking case which saw a man drive miles to his mother-in-law’s house to murder her – but he was found not guilty.

Professor Guy Leschziner, a world-renowned expert in Neurology and Sleep Medicine, appeared on Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett‘s The Diary of a CEO podcast to speak about sleep disorders and how sleepwalking can be used as a defence in a court of law.   

The most notorious case occurred in Canada in 1988, when 23-year-old Toronto man Kenneth Parks, was acquitted of murder and attempted murder of his parents in-law.

In the early hours of May 23, 1987, he drove 23km to their house, broke in, assaulted his father-in-law, Denis, and stabbed his mother-in-law Barbara Woods, 42, to death.

Parks, who had gambling debts, claimed he was asleep the whole time and was not aware of what he was doing.