Mother and son killed in suburban stabbing mystery
‘We just pray he pulls through’
A MOTHER and her teenage son were killed and a father was left fighting for life yesterday after they were stabbed at their home.
Tracey Wilkinson, 50, was found dead inside the family’s £440,000 detached property shortly before 8am.
Her son Pierce, 13, suffered critical stab wounds and died shortly after being taken to hospital. His father, 47-year-old company director Peter, was discovered collapsed in his garden with knife injuries to his back and chest and remained in hospital last night.
The suspected killer then fled in the family’s Land Rover Discovery but was arrested after smashing into a police car and wall with such force that neighbours likened it to ‘a bomb going off’.
It is not clear why the man, who is in his 20s, carried out the attack in Stourbridge, West Midlands. Detectives said he was known to the family and to police but was not a relative.
Officers yesterday ruled out the knife rampage as part of a robbery. A member of staff at the family’s local pub said the Wilkinsons may have given refuge to a homeless person around Christmas.
A neighbour also thought the family had taken in someone in need and Mrs Wilkinson ‘was only trying to help him’.
Another neighbour said she heard a man shouting in a nearby garden at about 8am yesterday.
‘It was definitely a man but I couldn’t hear what was said,’ she said. The mother of a boy who went to school with Pierce added: ‘I’ve heard they had let somebody stay with them but I don’t know them personally.’
The couple’s 18-year-old daughter Lydia, a biology student at Bristol University, was being looked after by police last night.
West Midlands Police described the killings as ‘horrific and heartbreaking’. Two officers were left with minor injuries after the stolen car rammed into their vehicle.
Mr Wilkinson’s parents John and Wendy, both 72, were understood to be at his bedside in hospital last night. A neighbour who knows them said: ‘ Their world has just come tumbling down. They are a retired couple and Peter was their only son.
‘They have lost a grandson, a daughter-in-law and are now facing the prospect of losing their son. We just pray he pulls through. It’s just truly awful what has happened and every family’s worst nightmare.’
The Wilkinsons were described as ‘very security conscious’ and had large iron gates fronting their fourbedroom home. Residents said the family had lived at the renovated property for around seven years and were often seen walking their greyhound, Mandy, or enjoying a drink at the pub. Mr Wilkinson was managing director of Solihull-based manufacturing company Asset International. Mrs Wilkinson was said to have competed as a ballroom dancer.
Neighbour Maggie Panes said of her: ‘Tracey is very striking to look at. She was very tall, very slim, very glamorous with dark hair. She used to ballroom dance to quite a high competitive level. I don’t think she was professional, but she was very good.’ Pierce is understood to have gone to school in Stourbridge and was a keen runner. One floral tribute left at the scene last night read: ‘To the most amazing family. So many memories that we will always treasure.’
Superintendent Lee Kendrick said: ‘What has unfolded here this morning is horrific and heartbreaking. Police and ambulance were confronted with an awful scene: a man, woman and boy all with very serious stab injuries. Our hearts go out to the victims’ family and friends at this devastating news.’