Jury retires in trial of babysitter accused of stabbing his two friends to death in Basingstoke

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

The trial has heard that the defendant had been asked by the couple to look after their young son while they went for a night out in Reading, Berkshire, on June 19, 2021.

The prosecution claim that after the couple returned to their home in Buckland Avenue in Basingstoke in the early hours, they were stabbed to death by the defendant while their young son was asleep in his bedroom.

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.

The court has heard that Elliott has admitted taking part in a £28,000 burglary of the Buzz Bingo hall in Basingstoke in January 2020 with Mr Hibbert.

The defendant told the jury that he had been happy with his £4,000 share of the stolen money.

The trial was told that police found a court document in the bin at the Hibberts’ home after the fatal incident, which said that Mr Hibbert had lent his phone – which was found at the scene of the burglary – to Elliott at the time.

Sarah Jones QC, prosecuting, said this could have been a motive for the murders.

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But Elliott said he had agreed to take the blame for the burglary and say he had borrowed the phone because Mr Hibbert was worried that his son would be taken into care if he went to prison.

Elliott, a father-of-two, has told the court that he had a brain haemorrhage in 2007 which left him with short-term memory loss and ‘frequent outbursts of aggression.’

When asked why he had not provided any answers when questioned by police about the murders, he said: ‘I had a total mind-blank so I was advised by my solicitor to say ‘No comment’ to everything.’

Elliott, of Vidlers Farm in 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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