Every third day, in our #EveryThreeDays campaign, I write about a woman killed by a man. Previously this month, we have remembered Rosemary Gill, Laura Davies, Lisa Anthony together with her daughter Ava, Carol Milne and on the 13th of July, twenty-year-old Hollie Gazza, who was stabbed to death while at work by a jealous ex-partner.
Today we remember Tracy Baker, 41, who was killed by her husband Kevin, 35.
Sadly Kevin had mental illness and had attempted to take his own life on two previous occasions. Convinced that Tracy was about to start a new relationship on the 4th of July 2015, he bludgeoned Tracy to death with a hammer. The Chard & Ilminster News reported this after the coroner had reported.
Somerset Coroner’s Court heard that Mr Baker took his own life with a ligature after killing the mother of three. The court heard that Mrs Baker’s father, (Peter Amey), discovered the bodies of his daughter and son-in-law in an upstairs bedroom of the family home the following morning and then contacted the police. He had let himself into the modern mid-terrace property after being alerted by family members who had failed to raise either Mr or Mrs Baker. A blood-stained hammer and kitchen knife were also found in the bedroom – although the court heard the knife had not been used in the attack.
A post mortem examination found Mrs Baker, a hairdresser, had suffered multiple blunt force head injuries while her husband, a groundworker, died from strangulation.
Somerset Coroner (Tony Williams) explained that over Christmas 2014 Mrs Baker’s parents had learnt of problems in her marriage and by the following March she had asked Mr Baker to leave the home.
“Only a couple of days later Kevin took an overdose. He subsequently went on to take a further overdose,” he said. There was also another incident of self-harm in front of his family. He was also reported missing to the police on one occasion, the court heard. “Kevin also started to see his GP and was involved with mental health services and proscribed medication. It is clear that the breakdown in the relationship was having an effect upon him.”
Addressing, Mr Baker’s mother Barbara, Mr Williams said: “You noticed that he appeared to becoming obsessed, constantly looking at an old phone that used to belong to Tracey and spending hours on his phone looking things up. What is clear from the statements is that there were never any signs of violence or aggression between Tracey and Kevin”.
Tracy Baker.
#EveryThreeDays
Authored by Steph @PlaceSteph
