Daughter saw mother's killer flee her bedroom window

Daughter saw mother's killer flee her bedroom window

 

A daughter came face-to-face with her mother's murderer before seeing him escape through a bedroom window.

Jessica Wilkes had gone to visit her mother when she came across killer Leslie Stubbs in the house.

Police arrested Stubbs minutes later after the body of former nurse Deborah Wilkes had been found stripped naked and strangled in a bedroom of her home, in Leek.

Leslie Stubbs (left) was arrested minutes after the body of Deborah Wilkes (right) was found naked and strangled in her home in Leek

But the 52-year-old never stood trial for murder after killing himself in prison last August.

North Staffordshire coroner Ian Smith yesterday recorded a verdict that 49-year-old Deborah was unlawfully killed.

After the inquest, Deborah's family said they would not let Stubbs ruin their lives.

Estranged husband Eddie Wilkes said: 'Deborah was a lovely person. She was a wonderful mother and grandmother, who was taken from us in a way that we will never be able to forget.

'A court case would have given us some sort of closure, but that will now never happen.

'It has been an incredibly difficult time, but we are a strong family and won't let it ruin us.'

The inquest heard Deborah's strangled body was found lying in front of a mirror and positioned in the same pose as a woman's body in a pornographic magazine found next to her body.

Various items of jewellery had been placed around her neck and a number of her teeth had been knocked out and scattered around her.

Details of Stubbs's erratic behaviour in the days before his arrest were revealed at the inquest.

Witnesses told how Stubbs started painting bins in his garden, arrived at a pub carrying a rucksack and a collection of tools and walked around in Deborah's home wearing her pink slippers with a bottle of vodka in the hours before her body was found.

Stubbs was arrested by police wearing no shoes and a pair of underpants.

The inquest heard how Deborah's next-door neighbours Amy and Edward Turner had heard noises from the house between 1am and 4am on August 23, 2009.

They recalled hearing a female voice saying: 'It would be better if you calmed down.'

The inquest heard Jessica went to her mother's house with her former partner, Tom Grindley, and twin sister, Harriet, at 7.10pm.

After jumping from the window, Stubbs, of Leek, went into neighbour Anthony Johnson's garden and asked if he could use the toilet. Police arrested Stubbs on suspicion of murder at Mr Johnson's house.

After being arrested, Stubbs told police: 'Why would I murder anyone? I've been looking for my dog.'

Detective Chief Inspector Stef Lungrin, who led the murder investigation, told the inquest: 'It appeared that Deborah's body and the surrounding area had been staged.

'There was a tooth on Deborah's chest and another next to her body. It appeared that Stubbs had tried to extract her teeth using a wooden slat taken from a bed in one of the bedrooms.

'There were also different lengths of cord and electrical flex found in the house and also in Stubbs's home.'

A post-mortem examination revealed Deborah had been strangled.

The time of Deborah's death cannot be established.