16 years jail for midwife’s killer who strangled her as she tried to finish affair

A LANDSCAPE gardener who murdered a midwife after she sought to end their affair has been jailed for a minimum of 16 years.

Samantha Eastwood’s body was discovered in a shallow grave at Caverswall, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, wrapped in a duvet and with tape around her eyes and face, eight days after she disappeared.

Ms Eastwood, 28, was reported missing by concerned colleagues on July 27, after she failed to show up for a night shift at Royal Stoke university hospital.

Michael Stirling, 32, from Stoke-onTrent, the brother-in-law of Ms Eastwood’s ex-fiance John Peake, was jailed at Stafford Crown Court yesterday as Ms Eastwood’s family watched from the public gallery.

The court had been told that the killing was not premeditated but followed a period of “growing tension” between the couple, leading to a row at her home in Stoke-on-Trent.

Rage

Stirling flew into an “intense rage”, suffocating and strangling Ms Eastwood before “panicking” and burying her body at a disused quarry, the court heard.

He tried to cover his tracks by sending text messages from Ms Eastwood’s phone and pretending to help in searches for her after the alarm was raised. He also laid out her wedding dress and engagement rings from Mr Peake on her bed.

Mr Peake told the court he believed they were a ploy by the killer “to point the blame in my direction”, after their engagement and relationship had ended in January 2018, in part because of Stirling’s ongoing affair.

The dead woman’s younger sister told the court she was “haunted” by the false comfort he gave the family.

Gemma Eastwood said his actions had robbed her of a “sister, mentor and best friend”.

Ms Eastwood fixed Stirling with a stare, as she said: “The murderer’s family haven’t lost a loved one, they can go and visit him and speak to him on the phone. I will never get a chance to see my sister or speak to her on the phone, because of what he did to my sister.” Stirling looked away, Gemma Eastwood revealed her agony Victim... midwife Samantha Eastwood

as she continued: “On the night Samantha went missing, the accused had the audacity to turn up at my sister’s house.

“He had the nerve to walk around my sister’s, like nothing had happened.

“Before he left my sister’s house that night he hugged me, after he had killed my sister. Forever this will haunt me.”