Man who murdered his midwife lover is jailed for 17 years

THE “cold and callous” killer of Samantha Eastwood comforted his victim’s sister hours after burying her body in a shallow grave.

Michael Stirling was handed a life sentence and jailed for almost 17 years at Stafford Crown Court yesterday after admitting murdering his midwife lover, with whom he had been having a three-year affair, after suffocating and strangling the 28-yearold at her home. Stirling (32) was the brother-in-law of the health worker’s ex-fiance, John Peake, and was well-known by her immediate family and friends.

His proximity to the family and the way he attempted to deceive both them and detectives, after his crime, saw police liken him to child killer Ian Huntley.

Huntley — convicted of the 2002 murders of two 10-year-old girls in Soham, Cambridgeshire — took part in several public appeals for information after the killings.

Miss Eastwood, who worked at Royal Stoke University Hospital, was found eight days after being reported missing by colleagues at a former quarry wrapped in a duvet Stirling had taken from her home, with her eyes and face covered in tape.

She had gone missing after finishing a night shift on July 27.

Detective Inspector Dan Ison, who led the investigation, described Stirling as “cold”, “callous” and remorseless for his actions — including just hours after burying Miss Eastwood offering comfort to her family knowing she was already dead and “hugging” her sister.

The day after the killing, he used Samantha’s mobile phone to send text messages to family members giving false hope she was still alive, with one message suggesting she had “met a guy off the internet”.

The detective added that Stirling had disposed of the body of the woman he claimed to love “like an animal” amid trees and undergrowth.

Mr Ison said the relationship was “full-on and intimate” but there was no obvious trigger for what prompted Stirling’s self-confessed “rage” at his lover.

Miss Eastwood’s death had deeply affected not only her family, but also colleagues and those whose babies she delivered, added the detective.

“Her job was to deliver so much life into this world. To have her life taken away so horribly and brutally is just huge,” said Mr Ison.