Family killer gets life

Ford has given no reason for the killings

Thursday, May 24, 2001

A 33-year-old man has been sentenced to five life terms after pleading guilty to the murders of his wife and four stepchildren.

Lee Ford, of Rocklyn, in Carnkie, near Redruth, Cornwall, was accused of killing 36-year-old Lesley Ford and her four children Craig Tranter, 13, Steven Tranter, 14, Anne-Marie Tranter, 16, and Sarah-Jane Tranter, 17.

The five bodies were found about a month after Mr Ford disappeared from the family home in September last year.

Three were found in a wood shed in the back garden of the family bungalow in Carnkie, and the other two more bodies were discovered in a field about four miles away.

Ford showed little emotion as he entered his pleas at Bristol Crown Court on Thursday.

'No clear-cut reason'

Nigel Pascoe QC, for the prosecution, said there was no "conceivable reason or justification" why Ford had carried out the murders.

He said: "Never has he (the defendant) provided any clear-cut reason which might suggest a sudden or overwhelming loss of control."

Mr Pascoe said all the victims had been strangled but that Ford had not provided police with a comprehensive account of precisely how he killed his family.

He said Ford had initially put the bodies in a shed but later moved two of them to a field a few miles away.

"This defendant must have feared discovery because he removed the bodies of the two girls and buried them hastily on the edge of a field a few miles away," he said.

The three remaining bodies were left in the shed, the court was told.

The court also heard that Ford strangled his victims with a rope over a 24-hour period.

Mr Pascoe said: "Garrotting can be described as a clean and very efficient form of killing.

"The Crown asserts that such a killing does give an insight into the degree of detachment and planning the defendant must have used to carry out each murder.

"On the defendant's account these murders were not one after the other but over a night and subsequent morning."

Ford, who had been having an affair with his step-daughter Sarah-Jane, told police he had "flipped" after his wife threatened to stop him seeing their two natural children.

He tried to cover his tracks after the killings by telling friends that his wife and children had left him, the court heard.

Sentencing Ford to five life sentences, Mr Justice Hooper said: "On all five counts on this indictment you will go to prison for life."

After Ford had left the dock, Mr Justice Hooper praised police officers involved in the inquiry.

  

Dead children's father describes grief

BBC News

Thursday, May 24, 2001

The natural father of four children who were murdered along with their mother by their stepfather has spoken of his grief.

Michael Tranter, 37, said he was relieved that the killer, Lee Ford, had admitted his guilt but demanded to know more details.

He said: "I want to know what happened and why it happened. Whether it will ever come out I don't know but I really hope it does."

Lesley Ford, 36, and her children Sarah-Jane, 17, Anne-Marie, 16, Steven, 14, and Craig, 13, were last seen alive at the end of August last year.

Their bodies were discovered in October after Mrs Ford's brother, Peter Wyatt, contacted police when he had not heard from his sister.

Mrs Ford's body was discovered in a shed by the family home in the village of Carnkie, near Redruth, Cornwall, along with the bodies of her two sons.

The girls' bodies were found in a field several miles away.

Ford had told neighbours that his wife had left him and had taken the four children with her.

He continued to live at the bungalow with two children he and his wife had had together.

Mr Tranter said: "He knew he was guilty, I knew he was guilty and everyone else knew he was guilty.

There is no way he could have got out of it.

"I used to see them (the children) every weekend, but as soon as they moved down to Cornwall there was no end of trouble trying to get access.

"It's probably about five years since I've seen them. Now I'll never see them again.

"We have been torn apart. This has rocked all three families involved."

Mrs Ford's parents, Les and Margaret Wyatt, of Newquay, have also been devastated by the deaths.

Mr Wyatt said: "We have lost our daughter and four wonderful grandchildren.

The Ford family's next-door-neighbour, David Toy, 18, said Ford had always seemed "a real family man".

"If the kids needed anything he always made sure they didn't go without and he seemed to treat all the children the same," he said.

Lee and Lesley Ford married in 1990 and lived in Telford with her four children before moving to Cornwall about five years ago.

Mr Tranter, who visited the scene of the murder to lay flowers, said he was pleased he had been able to bring his "babies" home for burial in Telford.

  

Husband charged with five murders

BBC News

Friday, 6 October, 2000

The husband of a woman who disappeared with four of her children has been charged with five counts of murder.

None of the four children has been at school this term and the last sighting of any of them was when Anne-Marie was seen in Penryn on 31 August, police said.