A former mental patient accused of plotting to murder singer Joss Stone was "capable of organising his life" and had not relapsed into schizophrenia, a jury has been told.
A consultant psychiatrist called on behalf of the prosecution told Exeter Crown Court that Junior Bradshaw was well at the time of the alleged plot.
Bradshaw had stopped taking anti-psychotic medication for more that a year before his arrest close to the soul singer's home but the court heard it had not affected his mental state in the weeks leading up to it.
Bradshaw and his flatmate Kevin Liverpool were arrested in the centre of Cullompton in June 2011 in a car which contained an arsenal of weapons including a Samurai sword, a metal spike, knives and hammers.
Notes and maps found in the car suggested they were on their way to Joss Stone's home in a hamlet a few miles away at Ashill, between Uffculme and Hemyock.
Bradshaw told the jury that he had no idea about any scheme to rob, harm or kill the singer and had never heard of her before setting off with his friend for 'a day out' in the country.
The defence have called psychiatric evidence that he suffers from a condition called hebephrenic or disorganized schizophrenia which rendered him incapable of understanding what was going on.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Richard Latham, called by the prosecution, said he agreed with the fundamental diagnosis but disputed the effect it had on Bradshaw at the time.
The doctor, a co-author of the Oxford Handbook of Forensic Psychiatry, said the illness is one which comes and goes.
He interviewed Bradshaw twice and studied the notes of the doctors and nurses from the care team who were treating him in early 2011.
Dr Latham said Bradshaw was capable of organised thought at the time of the alleged plot and had not relapsed into schizophrenia in the weeks before it.
He said reports compiled by the doctors and psychiatric nurses treating him in the months leading up to his arrest in June 2011 described his mental condition as improving.
He said: "It all points to him being in a period of remission. He was well at this stage. He was described as showing ne evidence of active psychosis and that his judgment was sound.
"This is a detailed description of what he was like at the time. It is fairly clear he was well. He was as well as those looking after him had ever seen him.
"Between January and May 2011 there was no real concern about his mental state. These are not just comments. There were detailed assessments which showed an absence of some of his previous symptoms.
"The overwhelming evidence is that he was not in a state of relapse at that time."
The doctor said he attached particular significance to a note by case worker Albert Hoogland in which he recorded that Bradshaw had contacted him to rearrange and appointment because he had to see a dentist.
He said: "The important factors are that he was able to know he had another appointment and able to place it is time and tell others about it. It suggests he was not disorganized in his thinking."
Bradshaw, 32, and Liverpool, 35, both of St Stephen's Close, Longsight, Manchester, both deny conspiracy to murder, rob or cause grievous bodily harm to Jocelyn Eve Stoker, aka Joss Stone, in June 2011.
The prosecution allege they planned to attack her at her home at Rull, Ashill, between Uffculme and Hemyock in East Devon.
They say notes written by Liverpool show they wanted to behead her using a Samurai sword because of her links to the Royal Family, including singing at charity events run by Princes William and Harry and attending the wedding of William and Kate Middleton.
They say they had scouted her home and were on their way to attack her armed with the sword, three knives, two hammers, masks, gloves, hosepipe, a makeshift body bag, when they were arrested in Cullompton.
Liverpool has chosen not to give evidence or call any on his behalf.
The trial continues next week after Easter
