Complaint to police officer was early sign Barry had invited a killer into his home

CORONER RULES ON HORRIFIC DEATH OF GOOD SAMARITAN

- By RUCSANDRA MOLDOVEANU

PROBATION Service practitioners were "insufficiently curious" about an offender's living arrangements in the months before she went on to kill an elderly man in his home.

Barry Spooner's body was found in his cellar days after he was stabbed to death more than 30 times by Sarah Hansford.

Hansford, then 44, was living with Mr Spooner at Gladstone Street, Forest Fields, after he took pity on her in 2020 when she said she was homeless.

Despite Mr Spooner showing her kindness by allowing her to live with him, Hansford took advantage of that and, by using a combination of persuasion, threats, aggression and violence, she stripped him of his life savings worth about £20,000.

She had previously been sentenced to 39 months in prison for offences of violence and breaching her restraining order against her elderly grandfather.

Despite her previous convictions, no concerns arose among Probation Service staff when Hansford told a practitioner she was living with "an old bloke" she had befriended.