Husband murdered wife before killing himself
Horrific incident in Barrett Drive last year
A HUSBAND stabbed his estranged wife to death after first bludgeoning her unconscious with a hammer, a court has heard.
The bodies of Nicola Roberts and Neil Barrass were found in the early evening of Monday, April 30 last year, in the living room of the home they had once shared in Barrett Drive, Loughborough.
An inquest into their deaths concluded at the Loughborough’s coroners court on Tuesday (February 5), where evidence revealed Nicola Roberts suffered fatal stab wounds to her chest before Neil Barrass turned the knife on himself.
Detective Constable Michelle Preston, of Leicestershire Police, said the grisly scene was discovered by the estranged couple’s adult daughter, for whom Mr Barrett had left a suicide note.
Emergency services had responded to a call from a neighbour at 6.24pm – less than two hours after Nicola Roberts was last seen alive.
“We received a call from a neighbour and family friend who stated two people had been found inside the address and they were thought to be dead,” she said. “We later understood this information had come from the estranged couple’s daughter.”
The pair were pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, prompting the launch of a criminal investigation.
Ms Roberts would have turned 43 the following Saturday. Mr Barrass was 45.
Forensic scenes of crime officers, bloodstain pattern analysts and a finger mark examiner examined the property over a number of days. Det Con Preston said: “We recovered a number of items as evidence, including a hammer in the kitchen and a knife in the living room next to where Mr Barrass had lain.”
Forensic examination found blood on the hammer belonging to Ms Roberts and blood and DNA evidence from both people was discovered on the knife.
Traces of Ms Roberts’ blood were found in the kitchen, stairs and hallway with only a “small amount of blood” belonging to Mr Barrass discovered next to where he lay.
Mobile phones belonging to each of the deceased were examined, revealing that, although they were still married, their relationship had irreparably broken down.
Det Con Preston said: “Ms Roberts had started a relationship with somebody else, albeit she would occasionally return to the marital home, as she had done on this particular day.” She said phone evidence suggested Mr Barrass was “unhappy at this and had wanted to reconcile”.
Det Con Preston said: “A number of people suggested concerns had been expressed previously over domestic abuse within the relationship.”
She said there had been two reports received by police from Ms Roberts, one in 2002 and another in 2017, recorded as “verbal domestic incidents” and arguments – but no formal allegations were made.
The detective also described photographs Ms Roberts had taken and sent to a friend showing injuries to her face and body which she had claimed were caused by her husband. Det Con Preston said that both of them had been in “significant debt” at the time, and Mr Barrass was facing redundancy from his job.
She said there was no evidence of a third party being involved in the deaths.
Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton, who carried out both post-mortem examinations at Leicester Royal Infirmary, said evidence of “blunt force trauma”, including a fractured skull suffered by Ms Roberts were consistent with blows from a hammer. He added that bruising injuries to her arms indicated she had tried in vain to fend off her attacker.
Dr Hamilton gave the medical cause of death in both cases as stab wounds to the chest.
Trevor Kirkman, senior coroner, ruled that Ms Roberts was unlawfully killed and that Mr Barrass died “at his own hand”.