10 March 2024 , 19:01
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The daughter of a woman who was brutally raped and murdered by a shoe fetishist - one day after Mother’s Day - is campaigning to keep her killer behind bars.
Wendy Speakes was stabbed to death in her own home, in March 1994, the day after Mother’s Day. Her Mother’s Day card from her daughter, Tracey Millington-Jones, was still on her fireplace, and she was wearing new slippers, a Mother’s Day gift, when she answered the door to her killer. They were later found in the bedroom, alongside Wendy’s body.
Hours before her death, Wendy had resigned at work and had put her home in Yorkshire up for sale – with plans to move down to Essex to be with Tracey and her new husband. Tragically, it was never to be.
Her killer, Christopher Farrow, evaded justice for six years until he was convicted of drink-driving and eventually forensic evidence was matched with the murder scene. He was jailed for life in 2000. Tracey, 59, is campaigning to keep him locked up, believing he is at high risk of re-offending. She is appealing also for other victims to come forward.
Mum-of-one Tracey, from Essex, says: “My mum and me were best friends and I spoke to her every day. She was so looking forward to moving down to Essex, I was hoping to start a family and she’d have been a wonderful grandmother. Mother’s Day is always very painful for me. Mum should be here to celebrate with me, instead, I am haunted by memories of that last Mother’s Day card, and the slippers I’d bought for her.
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“I miss her so much and it terrifies me that Farrow could be freed to do this to another woman. I know he had stalked other women, before and after murdering Mum. He knocked on Mum’s door carrying a bag containing a knife, a gag, a pair of stockings and a pair of shoes. It was completely calculated. He is a twisted, evil, monster, a danger to society, and he should never be allowed out.”
Wendy Speakes was killed in her own home the day after Mother's Day 20 years ago (Focus Features)Wendy, a devoted single mum of two, was well-loved in her local community in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. She worked as an office manager and waitressed at weekends to earn extra cash.
Tracey says: “We had a lovely childhood. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had loads of love. Mum took us for fish and chips to Scarborough, she’d make sandcastles and play on the beach with us. We called ourselves ‘The Three Musketeers.’ She was the best mum ever, and my best friend.
"As we got older, I confided in her about boyfriends and teenage stuff. We were incredibly close. She was a kind, generous person. She didn’t have a single enemy. Mum was so happy, she lived for her family. She was quite happy single, she used to joke she’d only go on a date if it was Charles Dance. She had a regular routine. She loved sitting in her conservatory in the evenings after work, listening to Rod Stewart.”
In 1993, Tracey married, and her mum gave her away. She and her new husband moved to Essex, but she called Wendy daily. Tracey says: “We were hoping to start a family so Mum made plans to move down to Essex. She put her house up for sale and she’d resigned at work on the day she was murdered. It was supposed to be her new start.”
Wendy enjoyed dancing and was a well-loved figure in her local community in Wakefield (Focus Features)
Tracey believes her mother's killer is at high risk of re-offending (Focus Features)Tracey sent new slippers and a card for Mother’s Day and spoke with Wendy on the phone. The following day, Tracey was at work when Wendy’s colleague called to say she hadn’t turned up. Tracey says: “Alarm bells were ringing. Mum was fit and healthy, never ill. She’d never have missed work without an explanation. I told myself maybe the bus had broken down but deep down I knew something was wrong.”
Wendy’s colleagues went to her home and found her body in an upstairs bedroom. She had been tied up, raped and stabbed to death. Her shoes were scattered around downstairs and she was wearing shoes which did not belong to her. Her new slippers were discarded nearby.
A pair of Wendy’s black shoes had been placed on the dressing table. Another pair of shoes had been taken by the killer as a trophy. Tracey says: “It was horrific. I couldn’t take it in. The police had no idea who it was, and so I was moved to a safe house for around five months, in case the killer was known to us.
“Our entire family and friendship group had to be fingerprinted and eliminated. The killer had left a fingerprint in blood, from a rare blood group, on the door and there was DNA from the rape.
“It was thought maybe the killer was a prospective house buyer, or someone from the pub where she worked. There was a witness who saw her open the door to a man, and then saw him running off up the street.
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“There was an e-fit of a man who had tried to attack a woman before the attack on Mum. The case was on Crimewatch too. I was in limbo, waiting for the killer to be caught. I’d scan the street, looking for likenesses, constantly wondering if I was walking past her killer.”
Tracey and her mum are pictured on holiday in a swimming pool (Focus Features)
Tracey is pictured with her sister, their mum Wendy and their grandparents (Focus Features)Two years after the murder, Christopher Farrow, from Leeds, was bragging about his drink-driving in a pub and overheard by a police officer. He was arrested and four years on the match was made with the fingerprint from the murder scene.
He was charged with Wendy’s rape and murder and as the investigation advanced, other women came forward describing sinister encounters with Farrow, including a 24-year-old known as Woman A, who said he knocked on her door and asked to use her phone after stalking her, but she slammed the door in his face.
A second woman was selling a car, and a man fitting Farrow’s description had tried to get her into the car to test drive it with her, but her husband intervened.
A third woman was targeted two weeks after Wendy’s murder. Farrow knocked on her door and asked to use her phone. She was frightened when she saw his feet edging towards her and slammed the door.
Tracey, from a big family, called her mum her 'best friend' (Focus Features)Because of this pattern of behaviour, Tracey is convinced her mum is not Farrow’s only victim. Farrow was sentenced to 18 years for the rape, 14 years for the sexual assault and murder of Wendy and four years for the attempted burglary of Woman A.
But as the sentences ran concurrently, Farrow was up for parole in 2018. Tracey says: “I was appalled to learn he was being considered for parole. He was a dangerous, evil, calculating monster, a danger to all women.”
She began campaigning to keep Farrow locked up, researching other women he had targeted and enlisting a criminal profiler to analyse letters Farrow had written in jail to his daughter. She also worked with West Yorkshire CID, pleading with them to review all unsolved rapes and murders.
As a result, the parole board concluded Farrow was not ready to be released. He was again refused parole in 2020 and 2023. But he will be up for parole again next year, and Tracey is ready to fight it.
Christopher Farrow was jailed for life but may be able for early release (PA Archive/PA Images)
Wendy is pictured on her 51st birthday in September 1993, just six months before she was murdered (Speakes family / SWNS)She says: “My worry is that he's going to do it again as soon as he's out. This monster went out with a murder kit and he took a murder trophy. He's never ever said sorry, he's never shown any remorse. He kills women he doesn’t know, or have any connection with, because he is angry with women. I’ll keep on fighting against his release because I know that when they do let him out, he will kill again.
"I also believe there must be other women out there who he targeted and I would ask them to come forwards. It’s not easy to report a rape or a sexual assault, but it could keep him in jail for another ten years – which means keeping other women safe for another ten years.
"I owe it to Mum to keep him locked up. I could not bear for another family to suffer as we have. I will remember her with love on Mother’s Day, but I also feel a great sadness and anger because she should be here with us."
If you or somebody you know has been affected by this story, contact Victim Support for free, confidential advice on 08 08 16 89 111 or visit their website, http://www.victimsupport.org.uk.