Double murder trial jury hears 999 recording of Hampshire mother pleading for life

A jury has heard a dramatic 999 recording of a mother pleading for her life in order to protect her son as his babysitter is alleged to have stabbed her and her husband to death.

Stanley Elliott, 53, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of the murder of 61-year-old Geoffrey Hibbert and his wife Michelle, 29.

Sarah Jones QC, prosecuting, said that the defendant had been asked to babysit their young son while they went for a night out in Reading, Berkshire, on June 19, 2021.

She said the couple returned to their home in Buckland Avenue, Basingstoke, Hampshire, in the early hours where they were stabbed to death by the defendant while their son was asleep in his bedroom.

Ms Jones said: ‘Someone who they thought was a friend, someone who they had trusted to look after their child, Stan Elliott, has turned on them and had savagely murdered them in their home with their son sleeping in a nearby bedroom.’

In a 999 call made by Mrs Hibbert, using the defendant’s mobile phone, she can be heard pleading for the attacker to stop so she can look after her son.

She is heard telling the operator: ‘Someone has just stabbed me and stabbed my husband. I’m in my house.’

Mrs Hibbert adds: ‘You have got to come soon or my husband is going to get killed.’

Mrs Hibbert is then heard screaming before shouting: ‘No, no, please. I have got to look after (my son), please.’

The jury was also shown police body-worn video footage captured by the first officers to arrive at the scene as they discovered the two bodies and the crying son in his bedroom.

Ms Jones has told the jury that Elliott might have become angered in connection with a £28,000 burglary at a bingo hall that Mr Hibbert had been accused of committing.

The victim was due to appear in court accused of being involved in the break-in at Buzz Bingo in Basingstoke, because his mobile phone was found at the scene.

Ms Jones explained that a court document showing that Mr Hibbert claimed to have lent his phone to Elliott at the time of the burglary was found by police investigating the double murder in a bin at the victim’s home.

The prosecutor added it was not known for certain whether Elliott had seen the court document and whether this was the motive for the murders.

The court has heard that Mr Hibbert died as a result of 58 stab wounds and blunt force injuries, while Mrs Hibbert died of multiple stab wounds and was found lying, partly naked, on the bed in their bedroom.

SEE ALSO: Man accused of couple’s murder

Elliott, of Vidlers Farm, Kiln Road, Sherborne St John, denies two counts of murder and the trial continues.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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