'Highly dangerous and unlikely to ever be released': Aaron Barley sentenced to life with a minimum of 30 years for Stourbridge stabbings
A down-and-out cocaine addict who tried to murder a businessman after slaughtering the victim's wife and teenage son was today jailed for at least 30 years.
But the judge, Mrs Justice Carr, warned that was the earliest Aaron Barley could be considered for parole in his life sentence and added: “You may never be released.”
Detective Sergeant Andrew Houston, the deputy officer in charge of the case, said after the sentencing: “The sentence reflects the gravity of the crime. The judges’ remarks echo the heinous nature of the offending which was beyond comprehension and something one hopes you never come across more than once in your police career. The public can take comfort from the judges’ remarks that the defendant is likely never to be released.Psychiatric reports indicate that he is highly dangerous and suffers from an untreatable mental condition.
“It is unlikely that a parole board would ever consider releasing such a dangerous individual back into the community.”
Tracey Wilkinson and her 47-year-old husband Peter fed, financed and employed Aaron Barley after she took pity on the homeless man after seeing him sheltering in a cardboard box outside a supermarket in Stourbridge.
A year later – on March 30 – he brought carnage to their home in Greyhound Lane, Stourbridge, where he had stayed and been entertained, after lying in wait for six hours in the back garden.
He struck after Mr Wilkinson took the family's pet dog Mandy for her regular morning walk, slipping into the house through the unlocked back door.
The judge told Barley as he stood impassively in the dock at Birmingham Crown Court she had not imposed a whole life sentence ‘principally because of your youth’.
She continued: “You abused your knowledge of the family home which you had only gained through the Wilkinson’s extraordinary kindness and generosity to you.
“Tracey Wilkinson and her son Pierce, only 13, were in bed at home, where they were entitled to feel and should have been safe.
“You have shown no remorse – indeed only regret that Mr Wilkinson survived his injuries and at times satisfaction in what you did achieve.
“You knew that you were destroying the family. It is what you intended.”
Barley, who was obsessed by weapons and had a history of violence, took two knives from a block in the kitchen and went upstairs where Tracey and her 13-year-old son were either dozing or getting up.
He stabbed her at least 17 times in a frenzied attack with some of the wounds being 15cm deep. She died at the scene as a result of a partial collapse of the lungs and blood loss from multiple stab wounds.
Pierce was certified dead from multiple wounds shortly after arriving at hospital. He was knifed at least eight times with one of the blows almost splitting his spinal cord.
Barley – dressed all in black and wearing a balaclava, gloves and black gloves covering his brightly coloured trainers – ambushed Mr Wilkinson when he returned from the 25 minute walk, attacking him 'like a ninja' while stabbing him six times.
WATCH as Barley breaks into the family home:
He then fled in the family's Range Rover which he drove in aimless circles around the area before crashing into a wall and being arrested barely 30 minutes later.
Meanwhile close-to-death Mr Wilkinson managed to phone the emergency services and tell police the name of the attacker and the registration of the get away car before being taken to hospital for life saving surgery.
Barley was overheard by police to say after his arrest: "I had the knife in my hand; I chopped them up; I don’t need a solicitor; I’ve done it; what’s more to say."
Later whilst held at Winson Green jail he told the jail's deputy duty director Michael Hazelgrove: "I am pleased that I got two but I am upset that I didn’t get him."
When asked what he meant he replied: "Well, there was three in the house and two didn’t walk out."
Barley, who was orphaned by the age of six and spent the rest of his childhood with relatives and a string of foster carers, suffered from Emotional Unstable Personality Disorder, said Mr Jonas Hankin QC, defending.
The defendant felt the Wilkinsons were trying to break the link with him after his mobile phone contract – paid by them – was terminated.
Mr Hankin continued: "He perceived abandonment and had the perception that he was no longer welcomed by the family who, the evidence shows, did nothing other than care for him."
Barley – dubbed a 'compulsive liar and manipulator' by prosecutor Mr Karim Khalil QC – had caused growing alarm to those who knew him with the increasingly violent tone of the postings on his Facebook account since the end of January.
His sister Sarah Hutchinson, who last saw him in the summer of last year and spoke to him for a final time that month, said he was threatening to come after anyone who had done him wrong and claimed the world was against him.
Former foster mother Eileen Adams described him as a Jekyll and Hyde character who could be caring and sensitive but also very threatening. She contacted West Midlands Police from her home in Australia because she was so worried by postings of his such as 'now I have nothing to lose you are all going to pay for it;' 'got to get some help before I got on a killing spree' and 'don't f*** with me, I'm unstable.'
Fiona Hemmings, a volunteer at the Atlantic House rehabilitation centre in Lye was told by him that always carried knife with him. Mr Khalil added: "He seemed obsessed with weapons, in particular knifes. He claimed that he wanted to kill someone using a knife and to chop them up." Miss Hemmings thought this was mere bravado and the result of taking drugs.
A week before the killings Tracey Wilkinson made a shock confession to a volunteer at Atlantic House where she had received help for an alcohol problem, and had taken Barley for drug treatment.
She said she had seen two people looking over the fence at her home. She claimed one was Barley and that he had made death threats to her. She said she wanted nothing more to do with him, the court heard.
Ian Crooks, senior crown prosecutor with West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service said: "Aaron Barley carried out a brutal and cruel attack on his victims who had shown nothing other than the utmost kindness and consideration to him over a number of years. In return for their support and kindness, Barley waited for the opportunity to gain access to the family home before fatally stabbing Tracey and Pierce and then attacking Peter Wilkinson, stabbing him several times. Our thoughts are with the Wilkinson family and their friends.”
WATCH: A statement from the CPS West Midlands following the sentencing of Aaron Barley:
