The chilling tale of the Swedish twins who ran into traffic on M6 before stabbing a man to death

On Saturday May 17th 2008, Highway Agency officers were called out to the M6 after two women were spotted spotted walking along the median of the motorway on a security camera.

But little did these officers know, their day at work would be far from an ordinary one and would in fact turn into of the most infamous and most highly publicised traffic incidents of its decade.

It all started in Liverpool; Sabina and Ursula Eriksson, two Swedish women in their late-thirties at the time, had traveled to the city by ferry from Sabina’s home in County Cork, Ireland.

Ursula was visiting her sister from her home in the US and, upon arriving in Liverpool, went to visit St. Anne Police Station with Sabina, who reported concerns about the safety of her children back in Ireland.

BBC

However, it is believed that from there, the twins went on to board a National Express Coach to London, where the driver grew suspicious of their behaviour and eventually ordered them off the vehicle at Keele service station.

After the twins behaved erratically with their luggage, the service manager called the police out of concern that the twins were carrying explosives. When the police came to speak to the women, however, they allowed them to leave.

But what happened next was simply unprecedented; after leaving the service station on foot, sisters were spotted on security camera walking down the median of the M6. Shockingly, they were then seen trying to cross the busy road, were cars were traveling as fast as 70mph.

Highway Agency officers rushed to the scene, as did the Central Motorway Police Group who, little did the twins know, were being shadowed by film crews for BBC One’s Motorway Cops. 

BBC

Upon arrival, and with everything being caught on camera, the situation was apparently diffused, with the twins appearing calm while smoking cigarettes and chatting with officers. But, out of nowhere, Ursula suddenly darted out into the road, her green coat being pulled from her by a concerned officer as she ran forward.

A lorry traveling at an estimated 56mph hit Ursula and immediately crushed both her legs. At this, Sabina darted out and smashed straight into the windshield of a Volkswagen Polo, the force of which knocked her unconscious for fifteen minutes.

However, the drama was far from over.

When an air ambulance arrived, Sabina regained consciousness and began to immediately attack the police officer trying to help her, screaming “I recognise you, you’re not real” and making various claims of organ theft.

BBC

She then managed to get to her feet and, when asking why the police officers had tried to kill her, attempted to once again run into traffic. Luckily, officers were able to apprehend her and put her into handcuffs.

The sisters were eventually taken to the hospital where it was confirmed that Ursula had severely fractured both her legs. Sabina was remarkably uninjured, and was taken to the police station to be processed.

The following day, Sabina was released from court, where she pleaded guilty to the charges of punching a police officer and trespassing on the motorway, and was sentenced to one day in custody. But, having spent a full night in the police station, she was deemed to have served her sentence. Remarkably, there had been no full psychiatric evaluation.

Following her release, Sabina is said to have wandered the streets of Stoke-on-Trent in an attempt to find her sister. This is when where, at around 7pm, she was spotted by two men who were walking a dog, one of whom was fifty-four-year-old Glenn Hollinshead.

BBC

Taking pity on her, Glenn offered her a place to stay at his home – but the very next day while making dinner, Sabina stabbed him four times with a kitchen knife. 

According to reports, Sabina fled the scene armed with a hammer as Glenn’s neighbours contacted the police. As officers and paramedics pursued her, Sabina wound up on the top of a forty foot tall bridge, which she leapt from, breaking both her legs.

While she was recovering at University Hospital of North Staffordshire, police arrested her on June 6th 2008 and later charged with murder. Both sisters were relocated back to Sweden and then to the United States. Sabina went on to plead guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility.

Sabina’s defence argued that she was a secondary sufferer of Folie à deux, French for ‘a madness of two,’ or ‘shared psychosis’, going on to claim that she had transmitted insanity from her twin Ursula.

Bronzefield Women’s Prison

The prosecution at Nottingham Crown Court accepted this and, subsequently, Sabina received just five years, which were served at Bronzefield Women’s Prison.

Mr Justice Saunders described it as ‘one of the most difficult cases he had ever had to sentence’, saying: “While the mental illness resolved quickly, both psychiatrists agree it was serious and that she behaved in the way she did because of her illness.

“Her culpability for her behaviour is, on the medical evidence, accordingly low. She was suffering from delusions which she believed to be true and they dictated her behaviour. It is also not one of those cases where the defendant could have done something to avoid the onset.”

Since her release from prison in 2011, the whereabouts of Sabina Eriksson and her twin sister have remained unknown. 

You can watch the scene from BBC One’s Motorway Cops here.