Police called to man's home 'several times' before his murder
Police were contacted about an elderly man who was murdered by a woman living with him seven times in two years before he was found dead, an inquest has heard.Barry Spooner, known to his family as Baz, was attacked by Sarah Hansford in May 2023, a then 44-year-old who befriended him, moved in with him and took his money to fund her drug habit.She pleaded guilty to his murder in December and received a life sentence.On Monday an inquest heard how police were called to numerous incidents at Mr Spooner's Nottingham address, including reports of threats of violence and theft in the year before his murder.
Hansford had been released on licence while serving a sentence for assaulting her grandfather - who she had extorted for money - when she met 74-year-old Mr Spooner.One of the conditions of her licence was she was not allowed to contact her grandfather.In 2023 Hansford stabbed Mr Spooner to death before dumping his body in the cellar of his home. The veteran, who served in the Royal Signals Regiment for 12 years, was found by police nearly two weeks later under "cardboard" and "clutter" at the flat in Forest Fields.
The inquest heard Hansford was considered a "high risk of harm" to the public at the time of her release in 2020.Despite that, when probation services became aware she had befriended Mr Spooner, no further action was taken.Hansford was initially staying at an "approved premises" - a halfway house for offenders released on licence - but was asked to leave in December 2020, due to concerns she was not following rules and over issues with other residents.She was staying at a different accommodation in April 2021 when probation services learned she had met Mr Spooner.Giving evidence, head of East Midlands probation services Becky Bailey, said: "The [probation] practitioner did identify some concerns but there's nothing on the record to suggest any further action was done."In July 2021, while still on licence, she told a practitioner she was "staying with an older bloke across the road from where she had been", even though she was still able to access the approved premises.The court heard it was standard practice for the probation service that the accommodation of an offender on licence would to be assessed but Ms Bailey said "it doesn't seem that the formal assessment of the accommodation happened".
Timeline of incidents
The inquest heard Nottinghamshire Police was called to or made aware of seven incidents involving Hansford in relation to Mr Spooner between May 2021 and May 2023.Det Supt Paul Lefford said officers dealing with safeguarding documents in relation to Mr Spooner would have been aware Handford was an offender.He detailed a number of incidents police responded to in court:5 May 2021 -Mr Spooner flagged down an officer on duty attending another incident to say Hansford had stolen money from him. He said she had knocked on his door asking for money and he ended up withdrawing cash from a cash machine for her. 12 June 2021 - A police officer followed up with Mr Spooner about the previous incident but he said it was "misunderstanding and now no longer wanted police involvement".27 August 2021 - It was reported to police by a neighbour of Mr Spooner that Hansford had knocked on their door asking for money and assaulted them. The neighbour directed police to Mr Spooner's address, having recognised she was staying there. September 2021 - Following the incident in August, police made a public protection notice (PPN) - a document police use and share to record safeguarding concerns about an individual - over concerns Mr Spooner was being exploited. This PPN was shared with Nottingham City Council. 17 October 2022 - Police were called to Mr Spooner's address, to reports of threats of violence and that an iPad had been stolen. September 2022 - Police were called to concerns that Mr Spooner's phone was taken. Officers attended and the phone was returned. 15 May 2023 - Mr Spooner attended a police station and told officers Hansford had been "taking money from him for a long time" but that he "didn't want to support a prosecution against her". Hansford was subsequently removed from the property along with her belongings. Another referral was made to the council via a PPN. Later in May 2023 Hansford murdered Mr Spooner.
'Family wanted conviction'
The court heard in the days after Mr Spooner was murdered, on 2 June, two social workers from Nottingham City Council attended his home following a referral that was made to the authority by police in May. Julie Sanderson, head of adult safeguarding and quality assurance at the council said Hansford had opened the door to the social workers."They were very concerned about Hansford's behaviour - she said she was away," Ms Sanderson said. She added that in their notes shared with police, one of the social workers wrote "I think you should record Baz as a missing person but that's your call". The court also heard the council was not made aware Hansford was an offender or of her risk to the public. An earlier referral from the police had been forwarded to the council's modern slavery team in September 2021, but no further action came from that. In statements read to the court by Mr Spooner's sister Valerie McMahon and his nephew Darren McMahon he was described as a "very mild mannered and timid" man. The family said in a statement read by a family liaison officer: "The family wanted a criminal conviction for Hansford and that is what they got. "They do not hold anyone else to blame. "If mistakes were made they hope learning has come from so that his death isn't in vain." Coroner Nathanael Hartley is due to conclude the inquest on Tuesday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
an hour ago
- Metro
'Teen boy shoots dead three at carnival including infant and injures two others'
A teenage boy allegedly shot five people at a carnival and killed three of them including an eight-month-old infant. The teen is accused of opening fire as two groups got into a fight at the WestFest carnival at Centennial Park in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah. Police officers working at the carnival saw the two groups get into a verbal altercation on Sunday night. 'As they approached to break up the altercation, a 16-year-old male from one of the groups pulled out a gun and fired,' wrote the West Valley City Police Department on X (formerly Twitter). An officer fired and did not hit the suspect, who was taken into custody. More Trending The teen allegedly killed Hassan Lugundi, 18, who was believed to be his target; Fnu Reena, 41; and the infant whose identity was not immediately released. West Valley City Mayor Karen Lang said that the city council was 'heartbroken'. 'What should have been a joyful night of community celebration ended in unimaginable tragedy,' Lang wrote in statement shared by the police department on Monday. 'We mourn the lives lost and stand in deep sorrow with the families whose worlds have been changed forever.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Starmer stoops to pick up UK-US trade agreement papers dropped by Trump MORE: Full list of 29 home goods chain store locations closing this fall amid bankruptcy MORE: Trump launches his own mobile network with a $499 gold phone
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
JK Rowling in bitter spat with Boy George as singer calls her ‘rich bored bully' over trans rights
JK Rowling has blasted Boy George for calling her a 'rich bored bully' – pointing out he once served time for whipping a male escort with a chain. The Harry Potter author posted a furious response on X after the Culture Club singer waded into a spat with another user who claimed Ms Rowling was 'the person maybe most responsible for the push to take away trans rights'. 2 When Ms Rowling asked the X user 'which rights have been taken away from trans people?', Boy George responded: 'The right to be left alone by a rich bored bully!' Ms Rowling posted a lengthy rebuttal in which she accused the Karma Chameleon singer, whose real name is George O'Dowd, of sneering at 'unenlightened plebs' who reject the notion that trans women are women. She added: 'I've never been given 15 months for handcuffing a man to a wall and beating him with a chain.' Boy George was jailed in 2009 for handcuffing an escort to his bed and inflicting 'wholly gratuitous violence' at a property in Shoreditch, east London, in April 2007. The court was told that the cocaine-fuelled attack on Audun Carlsen, a Norwegian man, had been 'premeditated and callous' and had left the victim 'traumatised'. Boy George had been found guilty at an earlier trial of false imprisonment and beating Carlsen with a chain with the help of another man, whom he had never identified. Ms Rowling rejected Boy George's claim that she was entitled. She pointed out that she had been poor and could empathise with women who relied on state-funded services, such as single-sex rape crisis, domestic abuse and homeless shelters. She said: 'You yourself have been convicted of violent assault. The overwhelming number of people who commit crimes of violence are male, just like you.' Ms Rowling has become one of the most outspoken campaigners for women-only spaces, becoming a target for criticism by transgender rights activists. The row broke out months after Supreme Court judges unanimously ruled that a woman is defined by biological sex under equality law.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The eight perverted grooming gangs convicted of preying on girls
Since the Daily Mail exposed the scandal of children being groomed for sex by gangs of South Asian men 15 years ago, almost 400 abusers have been brought to justice. In Rochdale alone, eight rings of mainly Pakistani-heritage paedophiles have been convicted of preying on largely white girls in the early 2000s – and a further 20 men are awaiting trial. Recent cases which underline the scale of the scourge in a string of Britain's towns and cities include: THE MARKET STALL GANG Just last Friday, seven men were convicted of sexually exploiting and raping two white schoolgirls in Rochdale. Ringleader Mohammed Zahid, 64, was known as 'Knickerman' because of his underwear stall on Rochdale's centuries-old market. The depraved father-of-three used his business to target children from troubled backgrounds, grooming the pair from when they were just 13. Between 2001 and 2006 they were treated as 'sex slaves', a trial in Manchester heard, with Zahid passing them on to paedophile taxi drivers in return for payment where they were subjected to further abuse. As well as Zahid, Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, Kasir Bashir, 50 – who is on the run after absconding – Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 48, Nisar Hussain, 41, and Roheez Khan, 39, all face lengthy prison sentences. THE TAKEAWAY BROTHERS Three brothers who used a 'dingy' flat above a takeaway in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, to groom and abuse underage girls were jailed earlier this year. Shaha Amran Miah, 49, Shaha Alman Miah, 47, and Shaha Joman Miah, 38, were all convicted of a string of sexual offences against teenage girls between 2008 and 2010. They were jailed for a total of 54 years. THE CHILDREN'S HOME GANG Seven men who committed a string of child-sex abuse offences against two teenage girls in Rotherham were jailed for a total of 106 years last September. At times the victims were collected by their abusers from children's homes. Mohammed Amar, 42, Mohammed Siyab, 44, Yasser Ajaibe, 39, Mohammed Sadiq, 49, Abid Saddiq, 43, Tahir Yassin, 38, and Ramin Bari, 37, were handed sentences of between six and 25 years. It brought the number of men to face justice in Operation Stovewood – the largest investigation of its kind undertaken in the UK – to 36. It was launched after the Jay Report found that at least 1,400 girls were abused by gangs of men of mainly Pakistani heritage in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
