'We feel hatred, but her death was not a surprise': Children of murdered Leeds mother Eileen Barrott speak out

Mark Barrott, who refused to come into court for his sentencing, was given life and told he must serve at least 21 years after killing 50-year-old Eileen Barrott at the family home in Whinmoor.

After the verdict had been read out this morning, Mark and Eileen’s son and daughter spoke outside Bradford Crown Court, along with Eileen’s father.

During Barrott’s trial, it was heard that he had made her life, and his children’s lives, a misery for decades with his controlling behaviour.

He would follow his wife, put a tracking device in her handbag and would regularly threaten to kill himself if she left him.

Barrott killed his wife in August last year when she told him she was finally going to leave him.

First striking the 50-year-old nurse with a hammer, he then strangled her to death before fleeing to Scotland.

Barrott, 55, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, claiming he thought his wife was possessed and was trying to kill a demon inside of her.

The jury took just three hours to find him guilty of murder.

Mark and Eileen’s son, Joel Barrott, 21, who discovered his mother's body, was asked about his feelings towards his father, and said: “Hatred, disappointment, upset, but it was not a surprise that he had done that.

"Over the years how he treated us as kids, and my mum, him doing this act was not a surprise but there’s still a lot of anger and despair that he could have done the right thing, like handed himself in or even pleaded guilty, but he made the decision not to to do that, and that makes us angry and upset.”

Their daughter, Carita Barrott, 23, added: “It’s the loss of two parents and now we’re having to carry on with our lives with essentially no parents and nobody to guide us.

“It’s the shock of it all, sometimes it feels like it hasn’t sunk in.

“She was my best friend in life. That beautiful person has been taken away.

“Our dad is going to be in jail for life and we have to live our lives knowing that he is a murderer.”

The sentencing this morning was delayed after it was announced that Barrott, who is being held at a secure psychiatric unit, told staff he had taken an overdose and had to be taken to hospital.

He was eventually brought to court but then refused to enter the courtroom, despite being deemed fit enough.

Four members of Eileen’s family, including his children and Eileen’s parents, read out heartfelt impact statements that were intended for him to hear.

Suggested it may have been a final act of power from Barrott, the judge continued with the sentencing.

Eileen father, 71-year-old Dinos Constantinou later said: “We were disappointed that he wasn’t in court, but it was not entirely unexpected because he is unpredictable and imaginative in his way of making it inconvenient for people.”