Wendy Buckney, 71, told family members she wanted to help Brian Whitelock after he was released from prison where he had spent 18 years for murder and manslaughter
A kind-hearted pensioner who believed in “second chances” gave a job to a convicted double-killer who later murdered her, a court heard.
Wendy Buckney, 71, employed Brian Whitelock to do odd jobs in her home, insisting to her sister “everyone deserves a second chance” after the man had been released from jail where he had spent 18 years for murder and manslaughter.
But a court heard Whitelock, 56, sexually assaulted Ms Buckney and then murdered her in a horrific attack using a knife, table leg and wooden shelf. The victim, a retired riding school owner, was found mutilated, bloodied, naked, and face-down on her living room floor with so many injuries they could not accurately be counted, the jury at Swansea Crown Court heard.
Whitelock was seen the following morning by neighbours leaving Ms Buckney’s home, wearing only inside-out boxer shorts and covered in blood, the jurors were also told on Wednesday. He is alleged to have said to locals: “I’ve killed Wendy. I don’t know why, she was good to me.”
But while Whitelock, who is representing himself, admits manslaughter, claiming he was acting out of character due to a brain injury from fracturing his skull, he denies murder.
Christopher Rees KC, prosecuting, said the pensioner “must have suffered greatly” in the attack in Clydach, Swansea, in August 2022. Addressing the jury on Wednesday, he added a post-mortem examination found “vulnerable” Ms Buckney, who suffered from mobility issues, had “too many” stab wounds and blunt force injuries for pathologists to count after the horror attack.
Mr Rees said upon his arrest Whitelock “admitted he had not just murdered Ms Buckney but tortured her with various objects”. The prosecutor claimed Whitelock is “a man with a long-standing drug problem and significantly with a history of violence and of trying to divert blame and responsibility for his actions”.
In the days following his arrest, the court was told Whitelock changed his story to say he had found Ms Buckney injured and had gone to help her and had seen “shadowy figures” outside her flat. He allegedly added: “I’m not doing another life sentence.” Mr Rees said Ms Buckney had no children but was well-loved by her 16 nieces and nephews and two adult step-children, having taught hundreds of children how to ride. It is claimed she had given Whitelock work despite being warned against it by her family.
Mr Rees told jurors Whitelock’s previous convictions for killing two men in 2001 show he has a “propensity to use explosive and disproportionate violence” – and that there were similarities between the crimes. The prosecutor revealed Whitelock was found guilty of murdering friend Nicky Morgan, 27, after battering him to death with a hammer in “a drink-and-drug fuelled argument”.
He was also convicted of the manslaughter of his own brother Glen, who died of smoke inhalation in a fire caused when Whitelock attempted to destroy evidence of the Morgan killing by pouring petrol over his body and setting it alight. The trial continues.
