'Dangerous' fugitive who murdered mother walking dog jailed for life

A "dangerous" fugitive who savagely murdered a woman while she was walking her dog has been jailed for life.

Roy Barclay had been on the run from police for two years when he attacked Anita Rose, 57, on a footpath in Brantham, Suffolk, on 24 July last year.

Anita died four days after she was found with serious injuries and Barclay, 56, of no fixed address, was sentenced to a mandatory life term of life - and will serve a minimum of 25 years after he was found guilty of murder following a trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

Judge Martyn Levett told the killer there were still unanswered questions as to why he did what he did.

On the day she was attacked Anita left her house at about 05:00 (BST).

She was found less than two hours later by members of the public on a track off Rectory Lane next to the London-Ipswich railway line.

The mother-of-six had suffered serious injuries after being kicked and stamped by Barclay and died four days later in Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

The killer's DNA was discovered on Anita's jacket and on the earbuds of her headphones.

Barclay was finally caught after he was spotted in Brantham by an officer from Suffolk Police.

When questioned he had initially given a false name of John Lesley, but provided his real telephone number and police were able to ascertain his true identity.

Several days later he was arrested at Ipswich County Library and subsequently charged with Anita's murder.

The trial heard he had been living in a makeshift camp in the area while "on the run" from police for two years following an earlier attack.

Prosecutors argued he also kept some of Ms Rose's belongings as trophies.

At the time of the attack, Barclay had been wanted on recall to prison having breached the conditions of his licence.

He had previously been jailed for attacking an 82-year-old man in Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex 10 years ago.

Anita's family were in the court room for Wednesday's sentencing.

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC outlined 11 aggravating factors in the case for the judge to consider in his sentencing.

These included Barclay's use of "sustained and excessive violence", killing in public, and the stealing and taking of Anita's property.

Mr Paxton said the defendant had also broken the conditions of the licence of his parole following the 2015 attack.

Simon Spence KC, mitigating, said Barclay's actions were not premeditated - which Judge Levett agreed with.

Barclay sat emotionless as he listened on from the dock.

The court first heard how Anita had enjoyed living in Brantham and had taken to help neighbours and other vulnerable residents when they were in need.

Statements from several of her children were read out to the court.

They talked of their mother's love for walking and how she was the "centre" of their family.

Anita's partner, Richard Jones, described how the couple "planned to grow old together" and he had been haunted by her death.

Her daughter, Gemma Rose, described the "immeasurable" loss and revealed she had taken to telling her own children about "how dangerous the world is" in an effort to protect them.

One of her sons, Ashley Rose, told the court he had desperately tried to help the investigation by buying a drone to find some of his mother's personal items that had been missing and were later found in Barclay's possession.

Judge Levett said Barclay was an "unpredictable, dangerous" man who was "prone to terrible outbursts of violence at the slightest confrontation".

He highlighted how in the 2015 attack on a "helpless" 82-year-old, he had beaten the pensioner for 53 seconds causing severe injuries.

Barclay only served five years in prison before he was released on parole but Judge Levett told him this should have been enough time for him to work on his "temper".

When Barclay breached the conditions of his licence in 2022 he became a wanted man and was on the run from police.

Judge Levett also questioned why Barclay had chosen to remain silent by not answering police questions when he was arrested or why he did not give evidence in his trial.

He said Barclay was "still, and will remain, for an unpredictable length of time, this dangerous person".

"We will, perhaps, never know what triggered this outburst of violence against Anita," he said.

"It may have been her challenging you about what you were doing, she may have caught you doing things which caused offence, but I am satisfied so as to be sure that, for whatever reason, at the time of the incident your intention was to kill Anita and not simply to cause her really serious harm."

Barclay had previously pleaded guilty to remaining at large after being recalled to prison.

For this he was sentenced to 12 months in prison which will run concurrently with his life sentence for Anita's murder.

Det Ch Insp Matthew Connick, the senior investigating officer on the case, said after the hearing Anita had been subjected to the most "shocking and violent attack".

"Roy Barclay was a deceitful and violent man who lived off grid and in solitude," he said.

"Three days after the attack he left Anita's phone in Ipswich enabling it to fall into the hands of others while causing a distraction and diverting significant resources, this ultimately led to his downfall with further CCTV obtained capturing his actions."

Nicola Pope, of the Crown Prosecution Service, similarly described the attack as "savage".

"[Barclay] thought he was too cunning to be caught, but a unanimous guilty verdict proved otherwise," she said.

"By carefully building a case with DNA recovered from Anita's belonging and sightings on CCTV – combined with previous bad character evidence against Barclay – we were able to present a clear picture to the jury."