We must have been having our Christmas dinner while there was a body there
NEIGHBOURS STUNNED BY 2017 MURDER
NEIGHBOURS of a murderer who stored his victim in a cupboard at his home are still reeling from last year’s horrific Christmas killing.
As families sat down to their turkey dinners last December, they were blissfully unaware that blind Jillian Grant lay dead just doors away.
Smith even posted Christmas cards through his neighbours’ doors around the time of the killing.
The 37-year-old’s body was found in Smith’s North Shields flat on December 25. She had been smashed in the head with a hammer and strangled days earlier.
But Smith’s seemingly senseless and abhorrent crime was not uncovered until the killer set fire to his parents’ home, on Christmas morning, as they slept.
Graham and Linda Smith were saved by a smoke alarm. Yet the blaze caused police to visit their son’s flat, on Tennyson Terrace, where they found Jillian’s lifeless body stuffed in the hall cupboard.
Smith, who eventually admitted at court to killing Jillian and attempting to murder his parents, killed himself in jail while awaiting sentence, so what motivated his brutal crime still remains a mystery one year on.
Sean Brunton and his partner Colleen Cruddas, who live two doors away and previously lived in the flat above, said they were horrified to discover they had received seasons greetings from a killer.
Sean, 43, said: “We got a Christmas card through the door, I think it was on the Saturday. After a few days we had figured out he must have pretty much killed her then the day after posted the cards. He’s just a psychopath, to go from killing someone like that to writing out Christmas cards. “And we must have been having our Christmas dinner while there was a body there.”
And Colleen, 51, added: “When we found out what had happened we just picked the card up and threw it in the bin. We just wanted it out the house.”
Suspicion fell on Smith as emergency services attended the fire at his parents’ home on East Cheap, in Heaton, Newcastle.
He was found holding the same kind of bottle used to set four seats on fire at the house.
And when police went to his home, they found traces of blood in the bathroom, then discovered Jillian’s battered body hidden under a number of items in a hall cupboard. Tennyson Terrace soon became a major Christmas Day crime scene.
The street was cordoned off as police, firefighters and a bomb squad arrived at Smith’s flat.
And it was a Christmas Day neighbours will never forget.
Sean said: “We were here on Christmas Day. We were having something to eat and before we knew it all the police were there. We were just having a lovely Christmas up until that point.”
Judith Oxborough lives across the road from Smith’s flat. She was enjoying Christmas Day with husband Bryan and daughter Zoe when the drama unfolded.
“We had just had our Christmas dinner then we became aware of a noise and lots of flashing lights, I was really worried of course,” said retired nurse Judith. “We had had a nice day. We were playing games and things and watching the Queen’s speech.
“It is so strange to know that she had been there for days while we were celebrating Christmas. It’s very upsetting. She was blind, it’s just awful. She wouldn’t have been able to get out.
“We have no idea why, but we will never know now.”
Sean and Colleen, who knew Smith for years, were stunned when it turned out a body had been found, and he had been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Colleen said: “When I first saw the forensics out the back I thought someone had done him in. We didn’t find out what had happened
until later on.
“I never ever thought of him like that. I have known him for about 10 years.”
Sean said: “He was really quiet. He kept himself to himself. But there was always something about him you couldn’t put your finger on. But you would never think anything like that.
“It was a really strange situation to hear you used to live upstairs from a murderer.”
CCTV footage showed Smith visiting Jillian’s home at around midday on December 22 before leaving with her 20 minutes later and heading towards his home. It is thought he killed her between December 22 and 24.
It was suggested in court that he had attempted to kill his parents in a ‘twisted attempt’ to protect them from finding out what he had done.
Smith was found dead in his cell at HMP Durham in July.