A Leeds man has been found guilty of brutally murdering his wife at their family home by hitting her with a hammer and strangling her.
Mark Barrott, 55, was found guilty of the murder of his wife Eileen, a nurse, at their home in Naburn Fold, Whinmoor, Leeds, by a jury at Leeds Crown Court today (Thursday). Police were called to the couple’s home on Sunday, August 15, last year after Eileen had been found unresponsive by the couple's adult son.
The son gave evidence during the trial, saying that Barrott was an "a**hole" who would not feed him and his sister when they were staying with him and would track Eileen's whereabouts using a GPS tracker. He said that Barrott had OCD, depression and other mental health issues.
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The son discovered his mum's body after receiving a call by a family friend saying that Barrott had messaged them to tell them that he'd killed Eileen. The son rushed home and discovered Eileen "lying face down" in the living room.
The transcript of his emergency call was provided in court, in which he said: " It's my mum. My dad and mum have been having arguments - I've not been at home. My dad sent a message to one of his friends saying that he's killed my mum so I've come home and I've just gone in the house and she's just laid there."
The call handler asked about where his dad had gone and a text he had sent, to which the son replied: "He just said he'd killed himself. He won't have killed himself but his car's not there and he's not in the house so he's obviously just running away. I need the police here. I need him to be found. He's an a***hole - he's treated us all like s***."
He told the call operator: "I can't believe this. I ****ing hate that man. He's such a ***. I need the police to find him as soon as possible. I want him to ****ing suffer."
Eileen was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics and a murder enquiry was launched. Barrott fled to Scotland after killing Eileen before being arrested by officers in the Elgin area of the country on August 19.
During the two-week long trial, it was heard that Barrott believed there were paranormal spirits in the house and that Eileen had expressed a desire to leave him prior to her death.
Following his guilty verdict, Barrott was remanded in custody to be sentenced at Bradford Crown Court on Monday August 8, 2022.
Detective Chief Inspector Vanessa Rolfe of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: “We welcome the verdict of murder given by the jury today and feel this does accurately reflect the circumstances of this offence and the brutal attack on Eileen.
“We hope that Barrott’s conviction for murder will provide at least some small measure of comfort to Eileen’s family and to all those who loved her.”
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