'Now my family's killer Barry Williams is dead I'm just seeking peace'
Her family was wiped out when gunman Barry Williams ran amok – and she was left fighting for her life after being shot eight times.
But Jill Burkitt says she can finally move on after the killer died in hospital on Christmas Eve.
Miss Burkitt's family was targeted by Williams in 1978 while they were his neighbours in Andrew Road, West Bromwich in a crime that shocked the nation. He killed his neighbours George Burkitt, his wife Iris and their son Philip, and shot Miss Burkitt in a hail of bullets when she was just 17.
After he fled towards the East Midlands, he shot dead Michel Di Maria, and his wife, Lisa, at their convenience store in Nuneaton, before being cornered and arrested in Bakewell, Derbyshire, after a high-speed chase.
The killing spree made headlines again this year after it emerged Williams – who had changed his name after being released from a secure mental hospital – had begun targeting his new neighbour Warren Smith in Hall Green, Birmingham.
Speaking to the Express & Star, Miss Burkitt said she finally feels free having lived in fear since William's initial release.
It was Mr Smith who phoned Miss Burkitt at 9pm on Christmas Eve to tell her Williams was dead.
She said: "I just want it all behind me now and I feel it finally can be. I am not seeking anything out of this now, I am just seeking peace.
"Warren feels free as well. Nothing actually happened to him but if Williams had come out he would have been the focus of his anger."
William's rampage in Andrew Road, West Bromwich, on October 26, 1978, also left Judy Chambers, another of Williams' neighbours, seriously wounded.
He sprayed the street with bullets from two pistols and hurled a makeshift bomb that did not explode, before fleeing in his Ford Capri.
He was ordered to be detained when he appeared at Stafford Crown Court and admitted five cases of manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility.
He was detained in a secure mental hospital indefinitely but 15 years later a mental health panel ruled it safe to release him back into the community.
He changed his name to Harry Street and astonishingly was able to settle in Birmingham just miles from where Miss Burkitt was living. She was totally unaware of the developments.
He went undetected by the authorities, and began a hate campaign towards new neighbour Warren Smith in Hazelville Road, Hall Green. When police raided the address in October 2013 they found a a cache of weapons similar to the guns and explosives he had used in the 1978 rampage.
He was arrested and detained under the Mental Health Act until his death last week.
Miss Burkitt said she felt vindicated when Williams targeted another family.
She added: "How it was reported at the time upset me.
"It had caused me a lot of grief and stress over the years.
"We had been portrayed as noisy neighbours, people who were making noise all night and causing disruption. But we were just a normal family. We were never allowed to party until the early hours.
"It was all very distressing and I felt a little bit vindicated when he targeted another normal family all those years later. He was clearly mad.
"I am glad it all came out before he died and he is now where he should be and people are no longer at risk."
Mr Smith has also expressed his relief following William's death at Ashworth Hospital, a high-security psychiatric facility in Merseyside. He said: "I feel shock but also relief. I was actually visited a week ago by the Probation Service who talked about his possible future release one day.
"I couldn't believe what I was hearing as he should never have been released after killing five people, so it was a very worrying visit.
"He was a very clever guy, he played the system, and serious mistakes have been made.
"So yes, I am relieved, but I would not say I am happy as we actually got on well with his wife and daughter and I do feel sorry for them."
