THE inquest into the death of Howley resident, Angela Craddock, continued at Warrington Coroners’ Court on Tuesday.
The case opened earlier this week with details of how the woman was killed in her own home by William Smart.
Jane Broadhurst, a florist who worked at Hatters Bloom, on Hatters Row, was the next to be heard before the court.
She was working with her colleague Sue when Smart entered the shop on the morning of April 5 requesting a bouquet of flowers be delivered to Ms Craddock’s address.
“He was threatening,” she said. “Me and Sue just wanted him out of the shop. The look in his eyes, it was pure evil. Straight away I was scared of him.”
Ms Broadhurst said during their conversation, Smart had called his ex-partner a ‘f***ing rat’ and said she was ‘anorexic and stick thin’.
When the florist asked Smart what the message was he wanted written on the card, he replied ‘a question mark’ and explained ‘that when he gets home, and she could not tell him who they were from’ he could ‘f***ing beat her up’.
Ms Broadhurst ordered the flowers to be sent to the address, despite her and her colleague feeling concerned for the recipient. The flowers failed delivery on the first day but were successfully delivered the day after by a taxi driver.
She added: “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, how scared he made me feel. I just wish that I had rang the police to ensure that lady was safe. I regret that I never did that.”
Patricia Johnson, mother to Angela questioned the florist on why they had not called the police after the conversation they had had with Smart.
Ms Craddock’s neighbour, Mr Collar provided a witness statement on April 11, 2018, which was read out to the court.
Living in the flat above Angela, he said he did not know her well and had never had any problems up until 2017.
“I noticed two men were visiting Angela. They did not visit together. Things started to get noisy, and behaviour changed.
“I started to hear raised voices. I could hear her screaming and it would end with her telling them to get out. I would regularly hear her say ‘leave me alone’.”
He referred to the two men as male one and male two. On January 2, Mr Collar witnessed ‘male two’ (Smart) escaping Angela’s flat through the private gardens of the complex and ‘police grabbed him and arrested him’.
On the day of the murder, Mr Collar said he was working a shift when he received a text from his partner at 12.30pm to say there were ‘strange noises’ coming from the flat. His partner said she could hear ‘drumming noises’ and ‘furniture being broken’.
When he arrived home at 3.15pm he could hear what he described as ‘animal noises’ and ‘singing’ followed by a male shouting repeatedly ‘leave me alone’.
When he left the flat at 7pm there were no noises coming from the flat below and when he returned with his partner at 10.15pm the police knocked on his door shortly after to inform him something had happened.
Senior Coroner of Cheshire, Jacqueline Devonish read out a witness statement from April 13, 2018, from Mohammed Zubairi, who worked at the Greenwood Fryer in Orford at the time.
He said that approximately 10.10pm on the evening of Angela’s murder, Smart entered the takeaway shop where he was working alone behind the counter.
“The male asked for a fish cake. I looked at him and his face was covered in blood. He was very upset and distressed and crying.
“I offered him a wet wipe to clean his face. I served him the fish cake. As soon as the male left the shop he began screaming and shouting.”
The final witness statement that was read out to the court was from Hayley Fox, dating back to April 12, 2018.
Ms Fox worked as bar staff at The Famous King and Queens pub on Padgate Lane with her mother.
On the day of the murder, she described the scene in the pub to be ‘busy’ with it being a matchday but at 10pm it eventually became quiet.
“At approximately 10.30pm I saw a male enter the bar. He looked drunk. He walked strangely and acted strangely. He looked as though he had escaped from a mental asylum.”
Ms Fox observed the blood stain on Smart’s face and watched him enter the bathroom. After a while he appeared from the bathroom again with a clean face.
“He made us feel uneasy and on edge,” she added.
Smart walked to another area of the bar before Ms Fox said her mother approached him and asked if she could help, to which he replied ‘no’ and left.
At 10.40pm Ms Fox left the pub to go to the shop and saw Smart causing a scene in the middle of the road, walking in front of cars, looking as though he was ‘trying to be ran over’.
Her final observation of Smart was him rowing with a group of teenagers in the street, before he made his way towards Gorsey Lane in Orford.
“A marked police van arrived, and a police car approached him.”
Smart was then arrested and taken into custody in Runcorn. The inquest continues.
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