A homeless drug user who turned on a family that helped him has admitted murdering the mother 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 at their home in Stourbridge, West Midlands.
Birmingham Crown Court was told 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.
Opening the facts of the killings, prosecutor Karim Khalil QC said Barley killed Mrs Wilkinson in her bed and her son in his room – and 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 by the Wilkinsons after Mrs Wilkinson met him outside a supermarket and took him home.
Describing the initial contact between Barley and Mrs Wilkinson, 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.
Tracey Wilkinson died at the scene from stab wounds (West Midlands Police/PA)
“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.”
Pierce Wilkinson (West Midlands Police/PA)
Barley, whose parents died when he was a child, was brought up by a foster carer, who had reported concerns about his behaviour to the police before the killings.
Mr Khalil said Barley had attended an alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre, where 50-year-old Mrs Wilkinson helped out after suffering personal problems in 2015.
Although 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 – his remarks were dismissed as bravado caused by drug abuse.
Husband Peter Wilkinson, who survived the attack, and daughter Lydia (Aaron Chown/PA)
The court also heard how Barley was given a job by Mr Wilkinson, working as a labourer in Newport, south Wales, for one of his businesses.
But Barley left the job without notice after falsely claiming his mother had died.
As Mr Wilkinson and other family members sat in the front row of the public gallery, around 15 feet from Barley, Mr Khalil told court: “Peter Wilkinson was naturally intent on trying to continue to support the defendant, as he believed he was grieving and a period of leave was arranged.
Detective Superintendent Tom Chisholm said the murders of Tracey and Pierce Wilkinson were the most shocking he had encountered (Aaron Chown/PA)
“Members of Peter’s company spent a huge amount of time and effort trying to find ways to support the defendant.”
In October last year, Mr Wilkinson returned home from work to find Barley sleeping on his driveway, after which the family allowed him to stay with them for two weeks before the council found alternative accommodation.
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.
A court sketch of Aaron Barley (Elizabeth Cook/PA)
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 a “killing spree”.
Less than a week before the stabbings, the court heard, the Wilkinsons cancelled a mobile phone contract they had paid for Barley.