This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of the midwife Samantha Eastwood.



Michael Stirling, 32, was charged on Sunday after Eastwood’s body was found in a disused salt quarry near Caverswall, Staffordshire, eight days after her disappearance.

Stirling, who is the brother-in-law of Eastwood’s former fiance John Peake, did not enter a plea during the three-minute hearing at North Staffordshire magistrates court on Monday, which was not attended by any members of Eastwood’s family.

Samantha Eastwood’s body was found in a disused quarry. Photograph: Staffordshire Police/PA

He spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth before being remanded in custody to appear at Stafford crown court via videolink on 8 August.

The charge states that Stirling allegedly murdered Eastwood between 26 July and 5 August in Baddeley Green. He had been held on suspicion of kidnap last week and was rearrested on suspicion of murder on Sunday as police continued to search his home in Bucknall, Stoke-on-Trent.

Staffordshire police said two other men, aged 28 and 60, who were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, had been released on conditional bail while inquiries continued.



Police on Sunday confirmed that Eastwood’s former fiance was not one of three men being held in connection with her murder.



Eastwood was last seen at 7.45pm on Friday 27 July when she was captured on CCTV leaving the Royal Stoke University hospital after a night shift.

The footage showed her driving towards home in her Volvo XC60 SUV and she was not seen again. Her colleagues raised concerns when she did not show up for her following shift.



Eastwood’s body was found during a search of the Tick Hill salt quarry in remote woodland in Caverswall. A postmortem was carried out on Sunday but the results have not been made public.

In a statement released by Staffordshire police, Eastwood’s family thanked supporters for their efforts. They said: “The family of Samantha would like to ask that their privacy is respected at this terrible time. We would like to say thank you to all the people who followed Samantha’s story and tried their best to help.”

Eastwood’s younger sister Gemma and her former fiance John have been at the midwife’s home, where dozens of cards and flowers have been left by members of the public and friends.

A fundraising appeal launched to pay for Eastwood’s funeral reached over half its £10,000 target by Monday afternoon. The GoFundMe page had received donations from hundreds of people who have been touched by her death.

Beth Taylor, who launched the page, said: “Samantha was a lovely young woman who helped to bring so many lives into this world. She had a bright future ahead of her and sadly this was taken away far too soon. Samantha’s story has been followed by midwives and NHS workers worldwide.

“Samantha’s extended NHS family would like to support her mother Carole and sister Gemma in their time of grief by contributing to Samantha’s funeral costs and to ensure one of our shining stars has the send-off she deserves.”

Eastwood had reportedly been in a relationship with Peake for several years and the couple were to marry in June, but the midwife ended their relationship at the beginning of this year.

