The Jekyll and Hyde dad who murdered daughter in revenge
Mylee, 8, pleaded: Please dad, stop it
Bill could be a top fella but then just snap. He enjoyed a drink but he would just flip
FORMER FRIEND DESCRIBES JEKYLL AND HYDE MURDERER
A “JEKYLL and Hyde” character has been convicted of murdering his eight-year-old daughter to get revenge over her mother.
William Billingham, 55, knifed Mylee in front of ex Tracey Taundry, 34, as she cried, “Please Daddy, no Daddy, stop it”.
He tried to escape justice part way through his trial by slashing his wrists in his prison cell.
Tracey arrived at Billingham’s bungalow to collect Mylee, who he called “Moo”, but he pulled her back inside, a jury heard.
He stabbed her through the chest with a kitchen knife as Tracey desperately dialled 999 screaming: “He’s got my baby.”
He then stabbed himself twice in the liver and cut his throat.
Police found him lying on top of Mylee. But he was more worried about his own medical condition than attempts by police to save her life.
Det Insp Jim Colclough, of West Midlands Police, said: “It demonstrates how selfish he is.”
He admitted manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility claiming he wanted to “protect her from the internet” so she could “remain a child”.
But he was tried for murder at Birmingham crown court.
JEALOUS
The jury heard he was jealous that Tracey had started a new relationship and hacked her Facebook account to read private messages she had sent to Lindsey Andrews.
He also entered her home and sent pictures of him dressed in her underwear.
The suicide bid came less than 24 hours after CCTV footage showing him laughing with his daughter at a shop was played in court.
The trial was halted for three days while he underwent surgery. He reappeared in the dock with bandaged arms.
Billingham, of Brownhills, West Mids, was yesterday found guilty of murder and making threats to kill Tracey. He will be sentenced today.
Friends said he was a “Jekyll and Hyde character” who boasted he was a “cradle snatcher” after seducing Tracey when she was 19.
One said: “Bill could be a top fella one minute and then would just snap.
“He liked a drink, but you never knew when he would flip.”
The friend said police were called to several domestic incidents involving Tracey.
He spent a night in the cells after one attack but was freed when she did not press charges.
The friend said: “Then it happened again. Apparently he’d seen messages on her phone to another bloke. The cops were called and she booted him out.”
He also threatened to jump from a balcony with his threeyear-old son after another ex left him, and was convicted of causing ABH in 1990 following an attack on his then-girlfriend.