Aaron Barley killed Tracey and Pierce Wilkinson at their home in Stourbridge, West Midlands in March

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Three senior judges have increased the sentence handed down to a homeless man who turned on the woman who tried to help him and killed both her and her teenage son.

Aaron Barley was originally told he would spend at least 30 years in prison for the murders of Tracey and Pierce Wilkinson at their home in Stourbridge, West Midlands in March.

Following an appeal by the solicitor general, Robert Buckland, however, the three judges ruled that the sentence was insufficient in what they described as a “most exceptional and grave case” and increased Barley’s minimum term to 35 years.

Barley, 24, admitted the two murders and the attempted murder of Tracey Wilkinson’s husband, Peter.

He was taken into their family home and given a fresh chance in life after Tracey Wilkinson spotted him sleeping rough outside a supermarket.

Sentencing in the original trial, Mrs Justice Carr had told Barley he had carried out “a vicious and unprovoked attack” on people who had shown him “extraordinary kindness and generosity”.

She said she had decided not to impose a whole-life tariff principally because of his age.

In the appeal court on Thursday, Lord Justice Holroyde said Carr was entitled to conclude that the circumstances of the crimes, truly dreadful as they were, did not require a whole-life order.

He added, however, that the only significant mitigating features were Barley’s psychological problems - which did not prevent his ability to plan and meticulously carry out the attack - and his admissions.

“The brutality of the stabbings and the terror which the victims must have felt were very grave aggravating features,” he said.

Peter Wilkinson and his daughter Lydia, who was away at university at the time of the attack, were at the high court in London while Barley watched from prison via videolink.

Speaking after the hearing, Buckland said: “Aaron Barley’s attack on the Wilkinson family was a truly despicable crime.

“The Wilkinson family had gone out of their way to help him and he repaid their kindness with a brutal attack which devastated their family.

“My thoughts are with Peter and Lydia Wilkinson particularly and I hope they can find some comfort in the increased sentence today.”

Barley stabbed Tracey Wilkinson 17 times and inflicted eight knife wounds on Pierce after sneaking into their home dressed in a balaclava.

Birmingham crown court had heard that Tracey Wilkinson took pity on Barley, when she found him huddled in a cardboard box outside a supermarket in September 2016.

She drove him home and gave him her husband’s dinner. The family helped Barley find accommodation and made sure he had a hot meal every night.

Peter Wilkinson gave Barley a job at his company but had to sack him after he began taking drugs.

Last year, Barley spent Christmas Day with the family and wrote Tracey Wilkinson a card addressed: “To the mother that I never had.” When he lost his accommodation, the family allowed him to stay with them for two weeks.

At the end of March, Barley arrived at the family home dressed in black and armed with a knife. He killed Tracey Wilkinson in her bed and her 13-year-old son in his room. When Peter Wilkinson returned, Barley leapt out of a garden shed, where he had been hiding, and attacked him. Barley stabbed Wilkinson six times before fleeing in his victim’s Land Rover.

Barley’s motive remains unknown. He refused to give an explanation to the police and would not allow toxicology tests to be done, meaning it is not known if he had been drinking or taking drugs.

Barley had 21 previous convictions for offences including an assault on a former partner were read out.

Volunteers at an alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre have reported that Barley said he wanted to kill someone with a knife – with his “two aims in life” being to kill a police officer and a prison officer. But his remarks were dismissed as bravado caused by drug abuse.

The 35-year sentence will be slightly reduced because of time Barley spent on remand and it will be 34 years and 178 days before he can be considered for release on licence.