Zoe Crowther: Friend stabbed mother of three to death and lived with the body for 11 days in UK

WARNING: Graphic content

A woman has been convicted after killing her friend and living with the body for 11 days before a foul odour from the residence alerted police to the killing.

Janet Connor, 53, admitted to killing Zoe Crowther and was discovered in the most horrific circumstances, before being taken into custody by police.

Ms Crowther’s body was found by police in Church, near Accrington, on January 14 after reports of a foul smell coming from the ground-floor apartment.

Police officers climbed into the unit through a window and discovered the terrible scene before Connor said, “I need to tell you summat. I’ve done something bad, I’ve killed her.”

Connor was charged with the 51-year-old’s murder, but prosecutors accepted a guilty plea to manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

At Preston Crown Court, a judge sentenced Connor to an indefinite hospital order under the Mental Health Act which means she will never be released from a psychiatric hospital unless the authorities sign it off according to a report in The Sun.

“Not only did Janet Connor take away my mum’s life, she took a piece of me too,” the victims daughter Gabbi said after the ruling.

“I have no words that can describe how I feel. Mum was not a perfect person by any means, however her being taken away from us in the manner she has, has broken my heart,” Ms Crowther’s other daughter Summer added.

“I have been robbed of the chance to ever have a future and meaningful relationship with her. She was taken away from us in the most brutal manner, and I have had nightmares about how scared she would have been and how alone she must have felt in those moments.

“The day we were told mum had had her life taken away, I didn’t realise what emotions were coming to hit me full force. I am still in shock; the nightmares persist seeing my family broken, I relive the moments of being told mum’s life had been taken. I cannot sleep without the aid of sleeping medication.”

A forensic pathologist found that the victim had died after being stabbed in the neck and also had wounds to her head.

The victim died 11 days before her body was found on the same day, that officers had been to the aprtment after Ms Crowther called police.

She’d also called a friend twice on January 3 to tell them that Connor was attacking her and they had been arguing over a television.

In the second call, at around 11.15pm, the friend said she could hear a “scuffle” and Ms Crowther asking for help.

Lancashire Police has referred itself to the watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, over its contact with Ms Crowther before she died.

“When I found out about mum, it was like a daydream, it wasn’t real. I initially tried to carry on as normal, however soon realised that nothing would be normal again,” Ms Crowther’s son Glen said about the loss of his mum.