Transvestite blames insanity for murder

It is a case that has been ideal tabloid fodder: A mentally unstable dermatologist with a penchant for women's underwear guns down his wife in front of their young children at their Boston home.

Dr Richard Sharpe, 46, claims he was insane when he used a high-powered hunting rifle to kill his estranged wife, a plea a jury will consider during his murder trial which is now under way.

Photographs of Mr Sharpe dressed in drag were widely publicised after his children sued him for US$100m (£68m) over their mother's death. The Sharpes' two youngest children, a four-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy, are in the care of eldest daughter Shannon, 27, and other relatives. In an affidavit intended to persuade a judge to stop Mr Sharpe contacting his children, Shannon Sharpe claimed that her father was a habitual cross-dresser who took female hormones and stole underwear from his wife and daughter.

Before the shooting on 14 July 2000, Mr Sharpe had been treated for depression, and was diagnosed with features of anxiety and schizoid or other personality disorders.

Mr Sharpe has been placed in solitary confinement while in jail for making a threatening phone call through an intermediary to his eldest daughter.