Babysitter found guilty of murdering Basingstoke couple in their home
Stanley Elliott was found guilty at Winchester Crown court
Last updated 4th Mar 2022
Babysitter Stanley Elliott has been found guilty at Winchester Crown Court of the murder of his two friends Geoffrey and Michelle Hibbert while their young son slept in his room at their Basingstoke home.
The 53-year-old, wearing a black face mask, showed no emotion as the verdicts were announced.
Jurors convicted Elliott of the murder of Mr Hibbert by a majority of 10 to two and the murder of Mrs Hibbert by a majority of 11 to one.
The judge, Mr Justice Garnham, told the defendant:
“The sentence I have to pass on you, Mr Elliott, is one of life imprisonment. I have also to determine the minimum sentence.”
He adjourned sentencing until March 31.
Elliot had been asked by the couple to look after their young son while they went for a night out in Reading, Berkshire, on June 19 2021, the trial was told.
After the couple returned to their home in Buckland Avenue, Basingstoke, Hampshire, in the early hours, they were stabbed to death by the defendant while their son was asleep in the next room.
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 her bed.
The jury was played a “harrowing” 999 call made by Mrs Hibbert using the defendant’s mobile phone.
She told the operator “Stan Elliott” was attacking her and was heard saying: “Someone has just stabbed me and stabbed my husband. I’m in my house.”
Mrs Hibbert is then heard screaming before shouting: “No, no, please. I have got to look after (my son). Please.”
Elliott was also linked to the murders by blood found on his motorcycle, which he rode home on.
Bingo Burglary
The court was told Elliott admitted taking part in a £28,000 burglary of the Buzz Bingo hall in Basingstoke in January 2020 with Mr Hibbert.
The defendant, of Vidlers Farm, Kiln Road, Sherborne St John, told the jury he had been happy with his £4,000 share of the stolen money.
After the killings, police found court papers in a bin at the Hibberts’ home during a search. The documents said Mr Hibbert had lent his phone – found at the scene of the burglary – to Elliot, jurors heard.
Sarah Jones QC, prosecuting, said this could have been a motive for the murders. Elliott, however, said he had agreed to take the blame for the burglary and say he borrowed the phone because Mr Hibbert was worried his son would be taken into care if he went to prison.
Sex worker
During their search, police also found multiple recordings of Mrs Hibbert having sex with a number of men at her home, it can be reported for the first time.
Chris Henley QC, defending Elliott, told a preliminary hearing Mrs Hibbert was a “sex worker” and the videos were taken on a number of recording devices, including a stuffed animal with a camera for an eye.
Mr Henley said: “There is no dispute the men who came to the property were being recorded.
“There were quite a substantial array of recording devices, including a teddy bear with a camera coming through the eye.
“All of these people were being filmed and the recordings stored on other devices – an iPad, for example.
“What we have been told is those recordings were being used to exhort money from Michelle’s clients.”
Mr Henley said hundreds of packets of condoms were found in the loft, with Mrs Hibbert active on an adult escort website until at least late 2020.
Ms Jones told the hearing these items were not relevant to the murder trial and added: “There is no evidence to support blackmail.”
Mr Henley also said Mr Hibbert was involved in a row with members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang about 12 years before his death.