Husband heard a burglar stab wife to death on phone
Terrified mum was killed as her two children slept
A MOTHER stabbed to death at home while her children slept was on the phone to her husband when she was attacked, a friend said yesterday.
Terrified Nicola Cross, 37, rang her husband Danny after realising there was an intruder in the house.
Mr Cross, 38, an IT specialist who was away with work at the time, is said to have ‘heard everything’.
Police yesterday said he and his family were ‘ going through an extremely traumatic time’.
The Polish- born warehouse worker accused of Mrs Cross’s murder was also charged yesterday with kidnapping the couple’s two children, who are now safe with family members.
Marcin Porczynski, 25, is believed to have been arrested by officers as he stood in the garden of the family home in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, with Stanley, six, and Isabella, three, as their mother lay dead inside.
He is due to appear at Hatfield Remand Court today.
A 35-year- old care worker who lives nearby said: ‘Dan heard everything on the other end of the phone. He was working away in Hull at the time.
‘Dan will never get that call out of his memory. He’ll have that for the rest of his life, knowing that he was too far away and could never have got to her to save her.
‘I just feel sick, it’s devastating. I’ve got three kids and it’s disgusting that they can do that to a woman at home with her children.
‘I feel for her husband and children. Nicola was a wonderful woman.’
Hertfordshire Police admitted that officers had spoken to Porczynski an hour before Mrs Cross’s death, following reports of noise and a man acting suspiciously in the road.
A neighbour claimed Mrs Cross made a call to police at 10.30pm on Monday night after hearing shouting outside.
Another resident said they also contacted police after seeing someone breaking into the Crosses’ home at around 11.30pm – just as Mrs Cross was phoning her husband.
Hertfordshire Police has referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission to establish whether officers could have done more to prevent the crime.
It is understood the family’s £250,000 three- storey townhouse was previously burgled during a recent two-week holiday in Majorca. Another property in the area was also broken into last week. Polishborn Robert Dziel, 19, who rents a room in Porczynski’s terraced house in Hemel Hempstead, was also arrested and bailed on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mr Dziel said he had done ‘nothing wrong’ and simply ran after his friend when he stormed out of the property on Monday night.
Police spent 12 hours at the address on Tuesday, carrying out dozens of bags and boxes filled with items.
Porczynski, who has also been charged with burgling the house next door to the Crosses’, has a Facebook page on which he lists his hometown as Kielce, a city with 200,000 inhabitants in central Poland. It says he moved to Hemel Hempstead in May.
A post-mortem examination was due to be carried out yesterday on Mrs Cross, who ran a greeting cards business from her home.
Her family released a photo of her on her wedding day in June 2013, but remained too distressed to talk. Other neighbours spoke of their disbelief at what had happened.
Wayne Emery, 31, said: ‘It’s heartbreaking to think of the young kids. We’re all in shock.’
A heavy police presence remained in the area last night as friends placed flowers and cards outside the house, paying tribute to Mrs Cross.
One message read: ‘Nikki, I’m going to miss you so much; your warm, loving nature, that beautiful smile...’
A security guard at the Martin Brower distribution centre in Hemel Hempstead where Porczynski works said: ‘He’s been working here a couple of months but I don’t know how long he’s been in the UK.’
Detective Chief Inspector Jerome Kent said the Crosses’ children were ‘safe and with family, who continue to be supported by specially trained officers’.
He added: ‘Officers remain in the area to offer reassurance and residents are encouraged to talk to them if they have any concerns.
‘We also understand people want answers but as you can imagine this has been and remains an extremely complex investigation.’
‘He could never have saved her’