999 call from dying mother ‘one of the most harrowing’ police operator tells double murder jury

A police worker who received the 999 call from a dying mother after she and her husband were fatally stabbed at their Basingstoke home, has described how it was “one of the most harrowing calls” he had ever taken.

Stanley Elliott, 53, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of the murder of 61-year-old Geoffrey Hibbert and his wife Michelle, 29.

The couple were stabbed to death at their home in Buckland Avenue in June last year.

Sarah Jones QC, prosecuting, has told the court the defendant had been asked to babysit the couple’s young son while they went for a night out in Reading, Berkshire, on June 19, 2021.

The trial has heard that Mrs Hibbert made a 999 call using Elliott’s mobile phone to report that her husband had been stabbed. During the call she said she had also been attacked.

Call handler Christopher Charles said in a statement read to the court: “A female voice said words to the effect ‘I have been stabbed and my husband has been stabbed’.

“My immediate reaction was the female seemed really calm. I remember asking the female who had done it and the female replied, I believed, ‘Tam Elliott’.

“I thought this was an unusual name so I repeated it back to her, from recall there was no reply to this question.”

He continued: “When I asked the female about the level of her injuries I think it caused her to focus on them and made her realise how serious the injuries were.

“The female started screaming and I didn’t get anything further from her.”

Mr Charles added: “I am aware of agonal breathing when someone is dying and that is what I thought I was hearing.”

He said that he heard over the phone police officers arriving at the scene and added in his statement: “I have never heard an officer sounding so scared, and that’s what really sticks out.”

He added: “It’s one of the most harrowing calls I have taken but I have tried not to dwell on it.”

The court has heard that Mr Hibbert died as a result of 58 stab wounds and blunt force injuries while Mrs Hibbert died of multiple stab wounds and was found lying, partly naked, on the bed in their bedroom.

Miss Jones has told the jury that Elliott might have believed that Mr Hibbert, who was due in court in relation to a £28,000 burglary at a bingo hall, was going to link him to that crime.

She said this was a possible motive after a court document naming Elliott was found in a bin at the couple’s home following the murders.

Elliott, of Vidlers Farm, Kiln Road, Sherborne St John, denies two counts of murder.

The trial continues.