When murder comes to town

 Women weren't safe in their                        own homes.

   In March 1994 I was a new mum expecting another and living in the West Yorkshire city of Wakefield. Exhausted from sleepless nights, I was largely unaware of current affairs. The brutal murder of 51 year old Wendy Speakes who lived about a hundred yards along the street, broke the spell. The whole city was shocked, but for any women that spent even a small part of the day alone at home, the tragedy would change their lives. 

    Attractive brown eyed blonde Wendy, had handed in her notice at work where she was an office receptionist. A for sale sign hung from the front of her end terraced house, a ten minute walk from the city centre. Her plan to relocate near to her newly-married daughter in Essex, was well and truly coming together. But within minutes of arriving home on Tuesday March 15th, 1994, Wendy was sexually assaulted and then savagely stabbed to death. Such was the terror that gripped the city, before long the faceless killer acquired the name "The Executioner of Wakefield". Despite being situated in the shadow of maximum security HMP Wakefield, local people believed it to be a safe and friendly place to live. As stunned as we were, the world keeps on turning. Yorkshire people are renowned for their grit and it was needed now more than ever. Yet when reaching home, an eerie reticence compelled us to look over our shoulders.

    Wakefield is technically a city, but like many smaller Yorkshire communities, neighbours stopped to talk to one another, and a stranger was just a friend you hadn't met yet. Pit closures that decimated mining communities over the past decade had brought the people of Wakefield closer together, united by their struggles. Working men's clubs remained popular, members only establishments that offered live entertainment, Bingo, cut priced alcohol and Outings for children and the elderly. The immediate theory that Wendy's killer lived in the locality, shook the enduring sense of solidarity as nothing else had yet done.

 

     From Ossett, Wendy took the three mile trip on the 126 bus, alighting at Wakefield bus station before making the ten minute walk and arriving home at roughly 6pm. Across the street, a worker at Green's printers spotted a man walking down the side of her house shortly after 6pm. In her slippers, Wendy was seen talking with the man at her front door before he made his way to the back of the house.Uncommonly for the time and where terraces often had only small yards, her house had a spacious conservatory at the rear. She had stood on her low brick wall and peered down the side, but when he reappeared at the front a minute later, she stepped back into the doorway. The man stood on the steps looking around and the printer turned and went back to work. Glancing from his window after about five more minutes, he saw the mystery man leaving Wendy's house, walking for a few yards before breaking into a sprint. 

     Her absence from work then next day, Wendy's colleague Deborah Crossley and her father drove to check on her. Mr. Crossley found her lifeless body in the upstairs back bedroom. Her killer had bound her hands with black stockings, said to have been bought the previous Monday or Tuesday from the city's Superdrug store, before subjecting her to a sadistic rape. She was stabbed nine times in the back and shoulders and twice in the neck with a four inch knife, then died cowering at the end of the bed. A peculiarity that police hoped would smoke her attacker out lay in the tatty blue mules he had brought with him and forced her to wear. A pair of her black stilettos placed on the bedside table and the theft of another pair of hers from the cupboard, told a story of an unusual predilection with shoes and feet. The rest of the house was undisturbed. As the murderer made his escape, he took three things with him -Wendy's life, the knife he'd used to snuff it out and the missing black court shoes.

     It was believed that the divorced mum of two was killed by a stalker. They must have known when he knocked on Wendy's door that evening, that an 18 stone rugby player wasn't due home. To the side of the house was a narrow driveway where the man had been seen and next to that "The Cliffe Tree" pub. Had he watched her from there? It had been daylight and authorities felt certain that somebody had seen something. Police appealed to the public using a reconstruction on national TV, hoping it might trigger their memories. Due to the fetishist features of the offence, experts warned this man would strike again, if he'd not already. Scrutinising Wendy's life, it was clear she wasn't living a secret life. That made it a very rare occurrence-a stranger murder.

A vague description suggested they should be looking for a man of 35-45 years, 5ft 8"- 5ft 10" tall with mid brown, receding hair, greyish at the edges. A partial fingerprint had been left on the inside door handle. The killer's blood and plenty of DNA samples at the scene raised hopes, but technology was limited thirty years ago. Time passed without a breakthrough. For Det. Supt. Rob Taylor who captured killer and kidnapper Michael Sams, this was the only unsolved of 40 cases he'd overseen. He vowed that he would not rest until Wendy's killer was behind bars. 

 When three police officers knocked on our door, people had started to lose hope that he'd ever be found. They were going door to door, asking every man to give a DNA sample. What had happened to Wendy could have happened to any one of us and it was good to see this was far from over. Wakefield CID officers eventually obtained samples from 3,000 men, yet still the years passed as if he'd just vanished into thin air. Wendy had been one of us. She brought her bread from the same shop, trod the same paths and spoke our language. Going to catering college, I'd pass her door and imagine her standing there, seeing what I was only for the last time.

       A drunken boast about drink driving in a Bradford pub some two years later, was overheard by a police officer. The drunk was 35 year old Christopher Farrow, a painter and decorator from Cookridge, Leeds. Convicted of the drink driving offence, his DNA, fingerprints and blood type were added to the database. Despite monthly checks on the evidence, it was another four years by the time Farrow became the prime suspect, when his fingerprints were matched with the partial print from the scene. Police arrested Farrow at the house he shared with his pregnant partner and her kids. He initially denied any involvement, but faced with overwhelming evidence, he finally confessed. 

  

       Farrow told police that he had a "bad day" which drove him to search for a victim. He stalked, planned and premeditated to murder a 24 year old woman who he had been hunting for several days. When she wouldn't open the door to him, his anger boiled over. A belief that he was entitled to have sex where and when he wanted, set him down the path, that would lead to Wendy's grisly murder. The prosecutor told how Farrow said to detectives:

•   "I just saw her get off the bus as I.             was getting off another bus"
•   "I had been.... thinking how crap my           life was. My sex life...was absolute           zero and I had a lot of upset and               anger towards my girlfriend."
•   "I decided to do something that day           to someone.I just wanted someone           to suffer the same way I was feeling".

   He also revealed he killed Wendy"as an afterthought". Having walked out of the bedroom to leave, he then realised she would be able to identify him.

   His cold statement was: "I'm a rapist who killed, I'm not a murderer who raped."

   Mr. Justice Moorland ordered that Farrow must serve a minimum of 18 years in prison, for the rape, sexual assault and murder of Wendy. He received an additional four year term for the attempted burglary of another woman in November. But the judge added he would recommend Farrow remains in custody for "very, very many years."

      Wendy's daughter Tracey continues to campaign against Farrow's release from prison and has successfully kept him behind bars so far. Having served the minimum term laid out during sentencing, the case for his release is heard every two years by the parole board. During his 2018 hearing, the parole board recommend Farrow be moved to an open prison in preparation for release, but he was soon returned to a secure facility. Wendy's daughter Tracey Millington-Jones warned he is still a huge danger to society and that he should never be released:

    She said:"They don't send people to an open prison if they don't want to release them at some point. The parole board report praised him for how well he had done and how his risk areas had been reduced."

  "I think he is a dangerous, dangerous man. People need to be reminded of what he has done. Particularly people in Leeds and Wakefield if he is going to move back there."

    "Farrow has never shown any remorse," she said. "He took a pair of my mother's shoes as a murder trophy and has never revealed where he has hidden them. He obviously has a thirst for more as he was out stalking and attempting to get women on their own in their homes within weeks of murdering my lovely mum. In my opinion, this man could have been the next Yorkshire ripper."

     New parole board rules in the UK mean it's possible for public parole hearings to be held in some cases where it's in the interest of justice. The normal position is for parole hearings to remain in private. It's critical that witnesses are able to give their best evidence in an environment where open and honest discussion can take place. Each application will be considered, with representation sought from all parties to the case. The chair of the parole board will decide whether applications will be accepted or rejected. Those decisions are posted on the government website. 

     Ms Millington-Jones has attended every session during which the parole board has been discussing Farrow, the degree of risk he presents and ultimately, decide if he can be released. She submitted an application requesting that the 2023 parole hearing be held in public, due to the serious danger she maintains he presents to the public. Farrow's lawyers objected, claiming that it would prevent him from receiving a fair hearing. Farrow said he would refuse to give evidence in public and it was claimed that he "may experience unnecessary stress", should the case being held in public. Although they declared the concerns of Farrow and his lawyers insufficient to impede the process, the chair of the parole board determined the hearing would take place in private. 

       

     Retired Det. Chief Supt. Paul Johnston has expressed his concerns, about the possibility of a parole  board decision that could see Farrow back in the community. He said "There has been no explanation, no apology, no remorse." While he's deeply concerned, he appreciates that the parole board have a difficult task. He remarked that:

    "Decisions have to be based on risk- risk of the murderer re-offending in some way, shape or form. That risk is often judged by remorse that has been showed, by explanations as to why he did what he did. If I am right, there has been nothing of that nature from him over the last 18 years, I would have to ask what basis can someone say this is a changed man? What's to say this won't happen again?"

    Police said from the time he was locked up, that he would have become a prolific serial killer had he not been caught. The former officer who had led the hunt for Barrow warns "I genuinely believe he poses a significant risk to women if he is released."

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