A friend of a Fathers 4 Justice campaigner and his young wife was today convicted of ‘savagely’ murdering the couple in their home as their young son slept next door.
Stanley Elliott babysat the couple’s son before stabbing Geoffrey Hibbert, 61, and his 29-year-old wife Michelle to death shortly after they returned home from a night out.
In an ‘inexplicable’ and ‘ferocious’ attack, 53-year-old Elliott stabbed Mr Hibbert 58 times in the neck and torso and Mrs Hibbert seven times.
In a ‘harrowing’ emergency call, the court heard a dying Mrs Hibbert clearly name Elliott as the person who had stabbed her and her husband, before pleading for her life with someone who entered the room.
Prosecutors said Elliott flew into a ‘fit of rage’ after learning the couple planned to ‘throw him under the bus’ for a £28,000 burglary of a bingo hall that the two men were both charged with.
After 10 hours and 9 minutes of deliberation, a jury at Winchester Crown Court, Hants, today found Elliott guilty of the two murders.
A babysitter has been found guilty of stabbing Geoffrey Hibbert, 61, and his 29-year-old wife Michelle to death shortly after they returned to their Basingstoke home from a night out
Elliott, who wore a grey T-shirt and dark blue reusable mask, did not react as the jury delivered a majority verdict of 10-2 for Mr Hibbert’s murder and a verdict of 11-1 for the murder of Mrs Hibbert.
During a four week trial the court heard the Hibberts had gone out for drinks and asked Elliott to babysit their young boy at their semi-detached bungalow in Basingstoke, Hants.
But following an argument between Elliott and the couple when they returned in the early hours, he ‘turned’ on them and stabbed them as the youngster slept in the next room.
Jurors heard a recording of the desperate emergency call made by a terrified Mrs Hibbert from Elliott’s mobile phone.
Prosecutors said Elliott flew into a ‘fit of rage’ after learning the couple planned to ‘throw him under the bus’ for a £28,000 burglary of a bingo hall that the two men were both charged with
At the beginning of the call she was heard breathing heavily, and telling police: ‘Somebody has stabbed me and stabbed my husband… I am in my house.’
Upon being asked where she has been stabbed Mrs Hibbert responds: ‘In my stomach… My husband has been stabbed all over.’
Mrs Hibbert is then asked if she is bleeding, but after answering ‘yes’ she becomes suddenly panicked and screams.
She says, ‘No, no, no, no’, before pleading with someone: ‘I have got to look after [my son], please.’
But her cries cease – though the call continues – and Mrs Hibbert is not heard again.
Minutes later, officers are heard arriving at the scene, shouting, ‘Police, anybody in there?’
In a ‘harrowing’ emergency call, the court heard a dying Mrs Hibbert clearly name Elliott as the person who had stabbed her and her husband, before pleading for her life with someone who entered the room
Mr Hibbert was found slumped by a radiator, before wife Michelle was found laid on her back on a bed, with an officer saying, ‘There’s another one here’.
A child is later heard crying as officers find him in his bedroom.
Elliott, from the village of Sherborne St John near Basingstoke, Hants, had been ‘trusted’ to ‘babysit’ the couple’s young son on June 19, 2021.
Prosecuting, Sarah Jones QC told jurors: ‘Someone they had trusted to look after their child had turned on them and inexplicably and savagely murdered them in their own home with their son sleeping there in a nearby room.’
He fled the property on his motorcycle before the arrival of the police but was arrested at his home having disposed of clothing that would have ‘undoubtedly forensically linked him to the attacks’, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors suggested the incident could have been linked with a defence statement written by Mr Hibbert which blamed Elliott for a burglary they were both charged with earlier the same year.
In the statement found torn up in a bin at the property, Mr Hibbert claimed he had loaned Elliott a mobile phone found at the scene of a bingo hall burglary in January last year.
More than £28,000 was stolen during the raid on Buzz Bingo in Basingstoke, Hants, and Mr Hibbert was charged after his phone was found.
Elliott, who has two children of his own, was also charged with the burglary and the pair were due to stand trial at the end of last year.
It was suggested Elliott may have flown into a rage and murdered the Hibberts after learning they planned to ‘throw him under the bus’ regarding the case.
Mr Hibbert was a campaigner for Fathers 4 Justice – a father’s rights organisation which is known for its stunts where protestors dress as comic superheroes and climb buildings, bridges and monuments.
In 2008, Mr Hibbert scaled a gantry on the M25 while dressed as Batman as part of a Fathers 4 Justice protest and unfurled a banner with pictures of his eight-year-old daughter, bringing thousands of cars to a halt.
He was eventually arrested on suspicion of causing danger to road users.
Speaking at the time he said: ‘I cannot describe how not being able to see her makes me feel. If I had taken her away I would be in prison for kidnap but my ex-partner can do it and it’s fine. Where is the justice?’
Elliott will be sentenced on March 31.
Following today’s conviction, Andrew Eddy, CPS Wessex Senior Crown Prosecutor, described it as a ‘violent and ferocious attack’.
He said: ‘The terror and panic that Michelle must have suffered, knowing that her husband had been stabbed, that she herself had been attacked, and that her child was still in their home, is unthinkable.
‘In the circumstances, she must have been extremely brave and strong-willed to have had the determination to call 999.
‘Elliott denied being responsible for the murders of Geoff and Michelle Hibbert, despite being named by Michelle whilst she was on the phone to emergency services.
‘It is indeed a tragedy that Geoff and Michelle’s child has now lost its parents following a senseless and extreme act of violence. We hope that Geoff and Michelle’s family will feel a small sense of comfort that justice has been delivered today.’
