Stourbridge stabbings: Disturbing CCTV footage shows homeless man prowling in garden before stabbing mother and son to death

Patrick Grafton-Green3 October 2017
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Disturbing CCTV footage shows a homeless man prowling around a garden before sneaking into a home and stabbing a Good Samaritan and her son to death in a frenzied knife attack.

Aaron Barley, who was fed, helped with accommodation and even given a job after Tracey Wilkinson, 50, found him on the street, pleaded guilty to killing her and her son Pierce on Tuesday on the first day of his trial.

Barley, 24, had already admitted attempting to murder Mrs Wilkinson's husband, businessman Peter, who he stabbed six times during the attack at the family's house in Stourbridge on Thursday, March 30, this year.

Police have released footage of him dressed in a hood and gloves and crawling around their garden before he sneaked in through the kitchen door and carried out the shocking attack.

Aaron Barley pleaded guilty to the killings on Tuesday
West Midlands Police

It has also emerged today Barley laughed about the murders of Tracey and Pierce Wilkinson while speaking to a nurse - and threatened to bite a police officer's "face off".

Birmingham Crown Court heard how hours after his arrest for the killings, Barley, when asked about his homelessness, told a police station nurse: "What? Two murders and possibly a third – I don't think I'll need any help with that."

Around 12 hours after the murders, a police custody officer supervising an "agitated" Barley answered a buzzer in his cell and was told he wanted to be interviewed.

After refusing to go back into his cell, Barley then told a police officer: "I've stabbed three people up – I ain't bothered about taking one of you with me."

Tracey Wilkinson was stabbed to death by Barley
West Midlands Police

Asked if he wanted legal representation, he replied: "I don't need a solicitor, I've done it, what's more to say? I'll bite his face off if he tries to come near me."

Barley tried to bite and punch officers during his time in police custody and was accompanied by three officers in full riot gear - with their visors down - when he appeared at Birmingham Magistrates' Court two days after the stabbings.

While being held at HMP Birmingham on April 1, Barley made further sick remarks about the murders, telling staff: "I am pleased that I got two but I am upset that I didn't get him."

He stabbed Mrs Wilkinson 17 times and inflicted eight wounds on Pierce at their home.

Aaron Barley in court (Elizabeth Cook/PA )
Elizabeth Cook/PA

Mrs Wilkinson, who was attacked in her bed, was pronounced dead at the scene, while Pierce, who was attacked in his room, died after being taken to hospital.

Mr Wilkinson, 47, managed to phone the emergency services after being stabbed six times and spent 11 days in hospital recovering from his wounds.

Barley shouted "die you ba****d" as he stabbed Mr Wilkinson repeatedly when he returned home.

The couple's daughter Lydia was away at university at the time.

It emerged after the attack that the Wilkinsons had helped Barley off the streets around a year earlier - after Mrs Wilkinson saw him keeping warm in a cardboard box outside a Tesco store.

It is not yet clear when he will be sentenced.

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