HOMELESS MAN’S FRENZIED KNIFE MURDER OF FAMILY WHO TOOK HIM IN
A HOMELESS drug user who turned on a family that helped him has admitted murdering a mum and her 13-year-old son in a frenzied knife attack.
Aaron Barley dressed himself in black and put on a balaclava before stabbing Tracey Wilkinson 17 times and inflicting eight knife wounds on her son Pierce.
Birmingham Crown Court was told that Barley – who was given food, friendship and shelter by Mrs Wilkinson – waited through the night until her husband Peter left the house to walk his dog before entering the unlocked property.
Prosecutor Karim Khalil QC said Barley killed Mrs Wilkinson in her bed and her son in his room, then attacked her husband as he returned home, shouting “Die you bastard” as he stabbed the 47-year-old.
Barley – who had covered his yellow trainers in black socks – knifed Mr Wilkinson six times on his lawn before fleeing in his victim’s Land Rover.
Mr Khalil told the court Barley, 24, was a “compulsive liar and manipulator” who was also given a job, accommodation and a mobile phone after Mrs Wilkinson met him outside a supermarket and took him home.
Mr Khalil told the court: “Upon Peter’s return from work, Aaron Barley was in the family kitchen eating Peter’s dinner, which had been given to him by Tracey.
“Barley presented as scruffy and smelly. Tracey said that she had found him sleeping rough outside Tesco. Thereafter the defendant went to a hostel whilst accommodation was arranged through the council. He was fed every evening in the Wilkinsons’ home.”
Alcohol
Mr Khalil said Barley had attended an alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre, where 50-year-old Mrs Wilkinson helped out.
Barley told volunteers at the centre he wanted to kill someone with a knife – with his “two aims in life” being to kill a policeman and a prison officer.
The court also heard how Barley was given a job by Mr Wilkinson, as a labourer in Newport, South Wales.
Barley, who visited the family on Christmas Day and was given lunch, was reported to police after his former foster carer became concerned about messages posted on Facebook.
Among the posts was a threat made by Barley against “my family that have not spoken to me in years” and messages raising his unstable state and the possibility of a “killing spree”.
Mr Khalil told the court: “Just before 8am, Peter returned home. He went to open the back door to the kitchen and was met by the attacking figure of Aaron Barley. He describes the defendant as acting like a ninja. He realised immediately who he was.”
Barley will be sentenced on Wednesday.