Latest news with #Brantham
Daily Mail
10-07-2025
- Daily Mail
The tragic final moments of mother-of-six Anita Rose as she walks her dog oblivious to her killer prowling the streets behind her
Chilling footage shows a mother-of-six walking her dog down a quiet country lane oblivious to her killer prowling behind. Anita Rose, 57, was enjoying a stroll near her home in Brantham, Suffolk when she was randomly attacked by Roy Barclay, 56, an occult-obsessed drifter who had been living off-grid to avoid being recalled to prison. Video shows Barclay appearing to change direction and follow Ms Rose along a path as she walked her springer spaniel, Bruce, on the morning of July 24 last year. Moments later he rushed the grandmother before punching, kicking and stamping on her during a 'vicious and brutal assault'. She was found by passers-by on a footpath beside a sewage works but died four days later. Barclay will now receive a 'very lengthy' life sentence after a jury at Ipswich Crown Court took just two-and-a-half hours to convict him of murder. The fiend left Ms Rose with a dog lead wrapped around her neck, a 'calling card' he also used in an earlier 2015 attack where he left an 82-year-old man with serious head injuries. He had been released from prison in February 2020 but had not been living at a fixed address. Speaking after yesterday's verdict, Ms Rose's eldest daughter, who gave her name as Jess, fought back tears as she said the probation service urgently needed change. 'We will now look towards changes that need to be made within the probation services and the justice system,' she said. 'We need to make sure that our communities are safe and that people are monitored, that criminals are taken back to prison when they break the terms of their probation. 'Criminals cannot remain at large. There's too much at stake and our communities need protecting.' It is understood that the Probation Service issued a recall notice for Barclay following a breach of his licence conditions. When a person's licence has been revoked, the relevant local police force will be notified, and the individual will become wanted by police. The Mail previously revealed that Barclay was a follower of the late David Farrant, the President of the British Occult and Psychic Society. Farrant was best known for helping to spark panic in the 1970s about the sightings of alleged vampires in Highgate cemetery, north London. Barclay was a keen amateur artist who drew cartoons satirising the rivalry between Farrant and self-proclaimed exorcist Sean Manchester, which once made tabloid headlines. But he apparently broke off links with Farrant's supporters at least 20 years ago, leading to rumours that he had 'disappeared in mysterious circumstances', according to one blogger. In fact, he had become a homeless drifter as his mental health deteriorated, living in makeshift camps and in temporary bedsits, while surviving largely on food scavenged from bins. Barclay was living off grid when he viciously attacked Leslie Gunfield, then 82, who had threatened to inform security about him going through rubbish bins at the back of a Co-op supermarket in Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex. Mr Gunfield was on his way to buy a newspaper just before 7am on February 22, 2015, when he spotted Barclay with an armful of pizzas and made an 'innocuous' remark to him, saying: 'You had a good haul tonight'. Barclay's response was to punch him repeatedly in the face and head, out of sight of CCTV cameras, leaving Mr Gunfield with multiple fractures to his nose, eye sockets and cheeks, and his jaw detached. The pensioner nearly died in the attack but survived after having ten titanium plates screwed into his skull in operations at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. Barclay, who was known for his love of dogs, left what the prosecution would suggest was a tell-tale calling card by tying the lead of Mr Gunfield's terrier around the foot of his victim to ensure the pet would not run away. He would later wrap Ms Rose's dog's lead around her leg after the fatal assault. He denied causing grievous bodily harm with intent against Mr Gunfield but changed his plea to guilty on the day his trial was due to start and he was jailed for ten years at Chelmsford Crown Court in August 2015. His release from prison on February 24, 2020, was on condition that he stayed in touch with the probation service but he effectively disappeared in 2022 and avoided contact with the police or authorities. It was his failure to obey the conditions of his licence that meant that he was wanted on recall for prison for two years. Barclay avoided being reincarcerated by living 'off grid' in a variety of camps, including one hidden in deep undergrowth close to a local beauty spot called Decoy Pond in Brantham, Suffolk, and in a clump of trees underneath the Orwell Bridge in nearby Wherstead. He attacked Ms Rose early in the morning of July 27 last year while she was walking her springer spaniel, Bruce, on an isolated path between the main Ipswich to London railway line and a sewage works around 200 years from Decoy Pond. Prosecutors suggested that he may have carried out the 'vicious and brutal' assault after Ms Rose saw him breaking into the sewage works to use its washroom, and possibly confronted him about what he was doing. The court heard Barclay subjected her to 'numerous kicks, stamps and blows' in a 'vicious and brutal' assault. Barclay displayed a surprisingly erudite side in a letter he wrote to the Halifax Evening Courier in May 2001, bemoaning the 'national scandal' that the burial place of Robin Hood at Kirklees Priory, near Brighouse, West Yorkshire, was not being promoted more by the local council She was found by passers-by on a footpath beside a sewage works but died four days later. Barclay, of no fixed abode, had denied murder. But a jury at Ipswich Crown Court took just two-and-half hours to convict him of Ms Rose's murder. Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said Barclay had kept a 'treasure trove' of Ms Rose's items including her jacket and phone. Mr Paxton said Barclay's walking boots, which 'amounted to the murder weapon', were found in one of the defendant's camps. Earlier in the case, jurors were told how 'cunning' convict Barclay tried to trick police into arresting an innocent man by leaving his victim's phone in a public place. The killer swiped Ms Rose's phone and distinctive pink jacket before then reading media reports on his mobile detailing how both items were 'key' to the police investigation, the court heard. Mr Paxton told the jury how the report was 'a signal to Roy Barclay that he had to get rid of the phone'. Barclay attempted to dump the phone to 'set a false trail for the police, throwing them off the scent', he added. Barclay was arrested by police at Ipswich Library on October 21 last year. He is due to be sentenced at a later date.
BBC News
10-07-2025
- BBC News
Anita Rose murder: Could Roy Barclay have been caught before killing?
The sun was rising over the village of Brantham in Suffolk when Anita Rose set off for an early morning dog walk. She was a mother of six, and a grandmother of 13. Within an hour, she had been assaulted so brutally that her injuries were akin to those of someone in a head-on car crash. She died four days man responsible, Roy Barclay, was on a list of Suffolk Police's most wanted criminals but he had managed to avoid being recalled to prison for the past two years by sleeping in makeshift despite this, Barclay had left a sizeable digital footprint - using his bank card to order items online and leaving hundreds of reviews on Google all this online activity, how did he manage to evade police and remain free to murder Anita? Anita was an "early bird", her partner Richard Jones said. She loved to walk her springer spaniel Bruce around Brantham, a village where she'd lived for six years and always said she felt safe. The 57-year-old loved watching the sun come up before other people were the morning of 24 July last year, Mr Jones and Anita chatted on the phone while she walked. He worked as a lorry driver and would spend time away from home during the week, so the couple would catch up while Anita took Bruce on the first of his three daily couple had known each other since they were teenagers and had started dating in 2011 after a chance meeting at a petrol station in Copdock where Anita pair's final conversation ended with Anita telling the 59-year-old to "drive safe, I love you".Within an hour of hanging up, she was found unconscious and severely injured on a track road near a railway line by a cyclist, Jerome Tassel, and dog walker Rachel Island. During the trial, Ms Island told the court Anita had "laboured breathing" and patches of blood on her face, and was only wearing leggings and a black sports bra, despite leaving the house wearing her pink Regatta Tassel described how her dog Bruce was lying "patiently" next to her body with his lead wrapped twice around her leg - this turned out to be something Barclay had also done after the 2015 attack for which he was Dr Kieran Allinson, who treated Anita at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, likened her injuries to those seen in high speed car crashes and said they were consistent with kicking, stamping and repeated impacts to the head. In the weeks that followed, Barclay was described during his Ipswich Crown Court trial as having lived in carefully-hidden camps and shaving his head to change his had been wanted by police since 2022, when he breached the terms of his licence by making himself homeless. Barclay had been jailed in 2015 for a violent, unprovoked assault on an elderly man in an Essex seaside town, and was released on parole in killing Anita, his internet search history showed he had looked up news articles about the attack. He also looked up Anita's partner on social is also said to have kept some of her belongings - including a pink Regatta jacket - at his makeshift camps. In the weeks after Anita's murder, Suffolk Police entered into one of its biggest-ever investigations to find the culprit.A number of people were arrested and meanwhile, continued to be a prolific reviewer on Google Maps for hundreds of locations around Suffolk and 2022 and October 2024, he posted thousands of photos of churches, Amazon lockers, libraries, beaches, council buildings, statues and more - earning himself a 'Level 8' contributor status (the highest being level 10).One review was of Decoy Pond in Brantham, with photos posted between April and July - the month he murdered Anita a short distance away. Three months after the murder, his final few Google reviews were about Flatford, a historic area on the Essex-Suffolk border famed for inspiring iconic paintings."It's a beautiful, unspoilt rural idyll that somehow exists in its own timelessness, as if awaiting the return of John Constable," wrote Barclay in a review posted in October then he was camping out a mile from where he'd killed Anita - but a chance meeting with a Suffolk Police officer near White Bridge, between Brantham and Manningtree, led to his gave the officer, Det Con Simpson, a fake name, coming across as "quite nervous and quite anxious", the detective days later on 21 October, at Ipswich County Library, Barclay was arrested and was subsequently charged with Anita's murder, which he denied. After his conviction, the Crown Prosecution Service described Barclay as "an individual that… has a history for acting violently so we knew that this was somebody that could act unprovoked in a very violent manner".The 2015 attack in Walton-on-the-Naze left the victim, 82-year-old Leslie Gunfield, with serious injuries to his head, neck, face and was jailed for 10 years for the assault, but was released on licence after Ministry of Justice (MoJ), which is responsible for probation services, told the BBC that a recall notice for Barclay was issued quickly following the breach of his licence doing this, finding Barclay became the responsibility of Suffolk Police. The force began looking for him in 2022, issuing a press release in January 2024 asking for members of the public to get in touch if they saw him, saying he had "links across Suffolk and Essex".Just over a month before he murdered Anita, on 10 June, Barclay had left a comment on an online article called 'Fixing Fixed Term Recalls'. He accused the MoJ of "deliberately" setting up prison leavers "to fail" and "return like a boomerang"."Is it really any surprise that so many of those on license are on recall within the first year of release?" he wrote. The MoJ has refuted these claims. Hamish Brown, a former detective inspector who worked for the Specialist Crime Directorate at New Scotland Yard, said his own experience taught him that officers were often not given "huge amounts of time" to investigate wanted in this case, he said, the force would have serious questions to answer."Suffolk Police failed in tracking him down, despite him using his bank card and reviewing places on Google."I'm surprised Suffolk Police missed this and didn't find him, despite the trail he was leaving."The bottom line is it could have been prevented if the police had done their job and gone looking for the person."So the police will have to brace themselves and be answerable."But Paul Bernal, professor of information technology law at the University of East Anglia, believes there would have been a limit to how useful the Google reviews could have been in tracking Barclay down."There is absolutely no way a social media or search provider would know that those things are in any way needed in a police investigation," he told the BBC."How could you tell if somebody named Roy Barclay is saying this cafe is rather nice... that might be something useful in an investigation? It would be really difficult." Speaking after the jury found Barclay guilty, Anita's family stood on the court steps and spoke of the changes they said "need to be made within the probation service and justice system"."We need make sure our communities are safe and criminals are taken back to prison when they break the terms of their probations," her eldest daughter Jess said."They cannot remain at large - there's too much at stake." 'Definitive answers' Suffolk Police confirmed it would conduct a voluntary partnership review which would look at how the force and the probation service handled the search for Barclay. "It will look closely at the information sharing processes and how the organisations collaborated," said assistant chief constable Alice Scott."This review will be a thorough assessment and scrutiny of the processes concerning Barclay. "It will be expedited as soon as possible so we can provide clear and definitive answers for Anita's family." Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Independent
09-07-2025
- The Independent
Daughter of woman murdered by man on the run calls for probation service changes
The daughter of a woman who was murdered by a man who had been living off-grid to avoid recall to prison said that criminals cannot remain at large as there is 'too much at stake and our communities need protecting'. Anita Rose, 57, had been out on a morning dog walk in Brantham, Suffolk when she was set upon by 56-year-old Roy Barclay in what prosecutors called a 'vicious and brutal attack'. Barclay, who had been convicted and jailed 10 years earlier over a 2015 attack on a pensioner which prosecutors said bore similarities, had been wanted on recall at the time over a breach of his licence conditions, police said. The defendant had been released from prison in February 2020 but had not been living at a fixed address. Suffolk Police said there would be a review of information sharing processes. Ms Rose's eldest daughter, who gave her name as Jess, fought back tears as she said outside Ipswich Crown Court that Barclay had 'shown no remorse'. 'We will now look towards changes that need to be made within the probation services and the justice system,' said Jess. 'We need to make sure that our communities are safe and that people are monitored, that criminals are taken back to prison when they break the terms of their probation. 'Criminals cannot remain at large. There's too much at stake and our communities need protecting.' It is understood that the Probation Service issued a recall notice for Barclay following a breach of his licence conditions. When a person's licence has been revoked, the relevant local police force will be notified, and the individual will become wanted by police. This provides police with the authority and responsibility required to apprehend the individual and return the offender to custody, and the process is the responsibility of the police. Barclay had denied murdering Ms Rose but was found guilty by a jury at Ipswich Crown Court, by unanimous verdict, after around two-and-a-half hours of deliberation on Wednesday. Barclay, who wore a grey jumper, glasses and had a white beard and thinning hair, showed no emotion as he sat in the secure dock of the court. The judge, Martyn Levett, said: 'The sentence is one that inevitably is going to be life in prison, and the length of it is going to be very lengthy.' Christopher Paxton KC, prosecuting, earlier told the court that mother-of-six Ms Rose left her home in Brantham, Suffolk to walk her dog Bruce, a springer spaniel, on the morning of July 24 2024. She was found by passers-by but died in hospital four days later. Mr Paxton said Barclay 'lived mostly in the countryside, wandering the fields and lanes, sleeping in various makeshift camps'. 'He lived off-grid because for two years, Roy Barclay had been unlawfully at large,' said Mr Paxton. 'He had been on the run trying to avoid the police and authorities to try and avoid being recalled back to prison.' Jurors were told that Barclay had previously pleaded guilty, over a separate incident in 2015, to grievous bodily harm with intent over an attack on an 82-year-old man in Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex. The pensioner, Leslie Gunfield, had told Barclay that he would inform security about him going through rubbish bins at a Co-op supermarket, the court heard. Mr Gunfield was left with serious injuries to his head and required 10 titanium plates for fractures he suffered after being attacked by Barclay. He was found with a dog lead wrapped around his foot, which the prosecution said was similar to the way Ms Rose's body was found, with a dog lead 'tightly' wrapped around her leg. Mr Paxton earlier told jurors that Mr Gunfield 'was taken to the ground and attacked on the ground by Roy Barclay, just as Anita Rose was'. Mr Paxton said Barclay was a 'dog lover' who had volunteered at a dog charity while on probation, adding that a dog lead wrapped around a body could 'almost be described as a signature of Roy Barclay'. The prosecutor described Barclay as 'irrational and dangerous'. Giving his closing speech, Mr Paxton said: 'Two very different worlds collided: Anita, partner to Richard, a mother and grandmother, out with the family dog Bruce, before she went off to work. 'Her world collided with Roy Barclay's world, a desperate man on the run from police for two years, having been in prison for beating Leslie Gunfield's face to a pulp. 'Roy Barclay took Anita Rose's life in an explosion of violence.' Barclay did not give evidence at his trial. Mr Paxton said Barclay had carried out online searches after Ms Rose was attacked which included 'Can barbed wire be swabbed for DNA?' and 'How long does DNA last at a crime scene?'. The prosecutor said Barclay had kept a 'treasure trove' of Ms Rose's items including her jacket and phone. Mr Paxton said Barclay's walking boots, which 'amounted to the murder weapon', were found in one of the defendant's camps. Anita Rose's daughter Jess said her mother was a 'strong, brave, vibrant woman'. 'She enjoyed living in Brantham and would walk in Brantham every single day,' she said. 'She felt safe in Brantham. She should have been able to continue to walk Bruce (her dog) safely every day in the wonderful countryside of Brantham.' Detective Superintendent Mike Brown said outside court that the murder was a 'brutal attack on a lone woman in an isolated rural area on the outskirts of a peaceful village'. 'We may never fully understand the motive behind it and our thoughts remain firmly with Anita's family at the conclusion of this trial,' he said. Assistant Chief Constable Alice Scott said that a 'voluntary partnership review' would be conducted under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements process involving the police and the probation service. 'It will look closely at the information sharing processes and how the organisations collaborated in terms of Barclay who was wanted on recall to prison when he murdered Anita,' she said. 'This review will be a thorough assessment and scrutiny of the processes concerning Barclay. 'It will be expedited as soon as possible so we can provide clear and definitive answers for Anita's family.' Barclay will be sentenced on August 6.
Sky News
09-07-2025
- Sky News
Man found guilty of murdering mother-of-six while she walked dog
A man has been found guilty of murdering a mother-of-six while she walked her dog last year. Roy Barclay, 56, had denied the murder of Anita Rose in what prosecutors called a "vicious and brutal attack" in which the grandmother was subjected to "numerous kicks, stamps and blows". But a jury at Ipswich Crown Court found him guilty of the murder of the 57-year-old after around two-and-a-half hours of deliberation on Wednesday. Ms Rose left her house to walk her dog Bruce in Brantham, Suffolk, on the morning of 24 July last year, Christopher Paxton KC, prosecuting, had earlier told the court. She was found unconscious with serious head injuries at about 6.25am by a cyclist. She died four days later at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. The judge, Martyn Levett, said: "The sentence is one that inevitably is going to be life in prison, and the length of it is going to be very lengthy." Mr Paxton said Barclay, of no fixed address, "lived mostly in the countryside, wandering the fields and lanes, sleeping in various makeshift camps". "He lived off-grid because for two years, Roy Barclay had been unlawfully at large," said Mr Paxton. "He had been on the run trying to avoid the police and authorities to try and avoid being recalled back to prison." Jurors were told that Barclay had previously pleaded guilty, over a separate incident in 2015, to grievous bodily harm with intent over an attack on an 82-year-old man in Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex. The pensioner, Leslie Gunfield, had told Barclay that he would inform security about him going through rubbish bins at a Co-op supermarket, the court heard. Mr Gunfield was left with serious injuries to his head and required 10 titanium plates for fractures he suffered after being attacked by Barclay. Barclay was released from prison for the attack on Mr Gunfield in February 2020. He will be sentenced on 6 August.
Telegraph
09-07-2025
- Telegraph
Murderer wrapped dog lead around grandmother's ankle to ‘leave his signature'
A violent fugitive who beat a mother-of-six to death while she was walking her dog left her with a lead tied around her ankle in a 'signature move'. Roy Barclay, 56, who had been living off-grid for two years to avoid being recalled to prison, had denied murdering Anita Rose, 57, whose body was found near her home in Brantham, Suffolk. But a jury at Ipswich Crown Court found him guilty after hearing of startling similarities with an attack Barclay admitted carrying out on a pensioner in Essex in 2015. In that case he had left an 82-year-old with serious head injuries after launching a vicious attack on him following a minor row. The victim was left with a dog lead attached to his foot, which the prosecution said was similar to the way Ms Rose's body was found. Christopher Paxton KC told jurors Barclay was a dog lover, and suggested leaving his victims with a lead wrapped around their leg could 'almost be described as a signature' of his. Mr Paxton earlier told the court that Ms Rose had left her home in Brantham, Suffolk, to walk her dog Bruce on the morning of July 24 2024. While on the walk she was attacked in a 'vicious and brutal' assault. She was found by passers-by but died in hospital four days later. Mr Paxton said Barclay, of no fixed address, 'lived mostly in the countryside, wandering the fields and lanes, sleeping in various makeshift camps'. 'He lived off-grid because, for two years, Roy Barclay had been unlawfully at large,' Mr Paxton explained. 'He had been on the run, trying to avoid the police and authorities to try and avoid being recalled back to prison.' It is understood he was wanted for recall to prison for breaching the terms of his licence by refusing to live at an agreed address. Living off-grid While Barclay lived off-grid, he split his time between two self-made and heavily concealed camps. He had minimal contact with others, showering in a sewage works in the early hours of the morning and using pick-up points to collect items ordered from Amazon. He rarely used his mobile or bank account to reduce his digital footprint and regularly changed his appearance. The police found lock-picking kits and other items that would indicate self-sufficiency and an ability to remain on the run. Jurors were told that Barclay had previously pleaded guilty to an incident the 2015 when he attacked pensioner Leslie Gunfield in Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex. Mr Gunfield had warned Barclay he would inform security about him going through rubbish bins at a Co-op supermarket, the court heard. Barclay attacked him, leaving him with serious head injuries that required ten titanium plates to be fitted. 'Force' and 'brutality' Mr Paxton said the nature of the attack on Ms Rose involved a similar level of violence. He said: 'Roy Barclay took Anita Rose's life in an explosion of violence. Blow after blow, stamp after stamp, and kick after kick. 'Roy Barclay's determination to keep his liberty and save his skin is revealed in the brutality of the injuries he inflicted on Anita Rose. 'Slight and slim Roy Barclay might seem, but his force, his brutality, is revealed in what he did to Leslie Gunfield and Anita Rose.' Barclay did not give evidence to his trial and showed no emotion when the verdict was delivered. Martyn Levett, the judge, said: 'The sentence is one that inevitably is going to be life in prison, and the length of it is going to be very lengthy.' Det Supt Mike Brown said it was a 'brutal attack on a lone woman in an isolated, rural area on the outskirts of a peaceful village'. 'We may never fully understand the motive behind it, and our thoughts remain firmly with Anita's family at the conclusion of this trial,' he said. 'Strong, brave, vibrant woman' Ms Rose's eldest daughter, who asked to be referred to as Jess, described her mother as a 'strong, brave, vibrant woman'. Speaking outside Ipswich Crown Court, after Roy Barclay was convicted of her mother's murder, Jess said: 'She enjoyed living in Brantham and would walk in Brantham every single day. 'She felt safe in Brantham. She should have been able to continue to walk Bruce safely every day in the wonderful countryside of Brantham. 'We will not forget the wonderful woman she was and the light she brought to everybody's life.' Barclay will be sentenced on August 6.
