'He has killed her' - court hears of chilling moment when daughter of Leeds nurse finds out her dad killed her mum

Mark Barrott, 55, is accused of murdering his partner Eileen Barrott at the couple's home on Naburn Fold, Whinmoor, on August 15, 2021, with the trial beginning today.

While Barrott admits manslaughter, he has pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to his mental health.

The hearing at Leeds Crown Court was read a statement written by the couple's daughter, which told of the weeks leading up to her mum's death.

It went into detail about Mark's controlling demeanour over the rest of the family, and that Eileen had been considering leaving him for some time.

"He was horrible to my mum," it stated. "He would call her all the names under the sun - he would berate and belittle her, and say she was weird and call her a wacko.

"She could be quite eccentric, but it was nice. She was herself.

"She always wanted to be the person who gave Mark a better life."

It added that Eileen had confided in her daughter that she had broken up with Mark on August 6, 2021.

The statement said: "[Mark] was pretending it had not happened. She felt like she could not escape from him.

"She had a huge heart and she did not want to see him suffer."

Eileen turned up for work one day and was allowed to go home due to the stress of the situation.

Eileen told her daughter she then spent a warm day walking around Leeds city centre, Mark contacted her and insisted on picking her up from work. He noticed tan marks on her skin and accused her of seeing someone else, calling her names.

"She just had an outburst," the statement continued. "She told me she just started shouting at him. She had never seen him so quiet.

"[Eileen] said 'I like the way I am, I like that I am weird, I like that I am not the same as everyone else. We should go our separate ways'."

In the weeks after, Mark got in touch with his daughter and asked if there was any way Eileen would give him another chance.

The statement read: "I said 'dad, you ruined her life a lot. That is how much you have broken her. You have been so horrible to her for all these years'. She gave him so many chances."

The statement added that, on the Tuesday or Wednesday before Eileen's death, Mark told his daughter he was "so happy", and that Eileen was "giving him another chance".

"On Sunday, I did not get any correspondence from them," it said. "I was tired and I did not think much about it."

Mark and Eileen's daughter was on a coach on her way back from London, when she received a panicked text message from her brother, who had been contacted by a friend of Mark's who was concerned about Eileen.

"I started to panic," she said. "I was ringing their phones and was thinking 'why is nobody picking up?'."

The statement then said her brother was on the way to Eileen and Mark's house with his housemate, assuming it was one of his dad's "mind games".

"He then messaged me saying 'he has killed her'," she said. "And that is when it hit."

The trial continues