Both murdered after she said killer did not have the courage to take a life

A ‘cold blooded’ double killer slit the throats of his girlfriend and another man before confessing his crimes to his father, a court heard.

Lee Peacock, 50, allegedly murdered Sharon Pickles, 46, before wrapping her body in a duvet and hiding it under the bed on 16 August 2021.

He then turned up at his estranged dad’s home with his girlfriend’s kitten in his rucksack and told him what he had done, jurors heard.

Peacock then went to the home of Clinton Ashmore, 59, who was part of a gang he blamed for exploiting Ms Pickles while he was in jail by selling her drugs, and slit his throat too, it was said.

Police found him on a boat on the Grand Union Canal six days later and he tried to cut his own throat as he arrested.

Ms Pickles’ body was discovered by police at her home in Ashbridge Street, Marylebone, at 10.42pm on 19 August 2021.

She had likely been killed around 36 hours earlier, the Old Bailey heard.

Peacock is said to have killed Mr Ashmore around midnight on the same day in Jerome Crescent, St John’s Wood, half a mile from Ms Pickles’ home.

He was found dead by friends at 2am lying in a pool of blood next to his bed.

Prosecutor Edward Brown, KC, said Peacock murdered Ms Pickles when she laughed at him and said he did not have the courage to kill anyone.

‘Mr Peacock told police he was with Sharon in the bedroom of her flat.

‘They were talking about a man he named as Scuilla, a drug dealer. He said he knew Sharon had been in contact with that man whilst he had been in prison.

‘He claimed he didn’t mind if she slept with people while he had been in prison as it was his own fault that he was absent from her.

‘But he spoke to her, he said, about killing Scuilla. He said he hated Scuilla because he, that man, had given drugs to Sharon and taken advantage of her.

He told police: ‘I was lining him up to just execute the c–t, I was lining him up.’

Mr Brown said: ‘He said Scuilla had made Sharon like his gangster girl. He said his plan was to kill Scuilla, to kill Dana who he said had been a bully, to kill Marcia Jones who also had also taken advantage of Sharon and to kill another, Frankie Smiley.

‘And when he said he was going to kill Scuilla, Sharon started laughing at him, saying that he couldn’t kill him, and this really upset him, that she was laughing at him.

‘He said that Sharon went to call the man Scuilla and as she did, he went to her, said “I’m sorry” and killed her.

‘He had the knife on him. He claimed he lashed out at her using the knife, cut her throat.’

He told police he found Ms Pickles laughing at him over killing Scuilla ‘almost impossible to take.’

In the days before the incident Ms Pickles had texted Peacock and said ‘I’m done with you…leave me alone,’, ‘It’s evil what you’re doing to me…we both know it’s over…you’re wicked.’

Ms Pickles sent another message which read: ‘Do not come in this house, put the key on the table outside and leave me alone you two-faced piece of shit.’

On 18 August, Peacock texted family to say he was in ‘serious trouble’ adding: ‘My time on this earth is very limited.’

He said: ‘After this conversation with me you will never hear from me again. I will never be released from prison.

‘My hands has been forced after what he did last night.’

On the morning of 19 August Peacock turned up at one of Mr Ashmore’s neighbours house to smoke cocaine. He told him he and Ms Pickles had had ‘one of their arguments’.

Mr Brown said: ‘It was at about 9pm on 19 August that the defendant appeared at the front door of his parents address.

‘This was a surprise to his father – they were estranged and Mr Peacock senior had not seen his son for some two and a half to three years.

‘At first they spoke on the doorstep but it became clear that whatever it was, was serious.

‘The defendant went into the sitting room. He was asked by his father what is was that he wanted to say.

‘He replied that he’d killed three people, one his girlfriend Sharon and, in his words, “two black b——s”.

‘Whenever he was questioned more closely by his father, all he would do was play with a kitten that he had brought with him in a rucksack.’

He later said it was his girlfriend’s kitten.

Mr Brown said: ‘Then he went on to describe in more detail what he had done and how he had killed his apparent three victims; he drew a hand across his throat “just as you see on the TV,” he said.

‘It was almost unbelievable to Mr Peacock senior, for obvious reasons.’

Peacock told his father he had been in prison for 14 months and Ms Pickles had not been in touch with him.

Mr Brown said: ‘The defendant went on to apparently explain that a lot of black people, as he described, find vulnerable people with a house and move in with them, as “cuckoos”, and start dealing drugs from there.

‘He claimed there had been an argument at Sharon’s address and he had killed three people there.

‘The defendant even showed his father a knife he had brought with him – as the knife he said he had used.

‘The defendant was getting very agitated and appeared to say he wanted to prove that what he was saying was true but his father just wanted him out. After about 20 minutes of being in the address, the defendant left.

‘Mr Peacock senior called his wife. she was with a neighbour at the time, and they immediately called the police.’

‘Mr Peacock told police that the worst mistake that he made was going to ask his father for some money.

‘When this was refused, he left and went to North Wembley Station. Someone he said had thrown themselves under the track so he went back towards his dad’s house but saw the house was surrounded by police cars and knew then that his dad had reported him to the police.

‘He said he knew that his time was limited and that he wanted to kill the woman Marcia.

‘He actually went to where he knew she would be but when he got there, he saw that she was with her 12 year old grandchild, and so he decided he could not kill Marcia in front of the child.

‘And therefore he said, Clinton Ashton had to be killed, he said, because he was one of them, part of the group who sold drugs.’

CCTV shows that at 11.44pm on the same day Peacock and Mr Ashmore walked together to Mr Ashmore’s flat. Peacock left alone around midnight.

He told police Mr Ashmore was moving about a lot which was why there was a lot of blood in the flat.

He said that he wished that he had finished the job and killed Marcia, Scuilla, and two others he named, Dana and Frank Smiley.

He said: ‘Marcia being there with her granddaughter, it’s just Clint, he’s unlucky….Marcia is very, very, very, very f–king lucky.’

Peacock said he got the knife with the intention of ‘getting Scuilla, and cutting his throat’.

‘I wanted Scuilla badly, I wanted Marcia badly, more I wanted Dana badly….they do not deserve to be on this earth, they are evil,’ he said.

Peacock’s mobile phone was found discarded near his father’s house.

Mr Brown said: ‘There was obviously an immediate police search for the defendant and he was not traced until 25 August when he was discovered on a house boat in the Grand Union canal.

‘Upon the arrival of police, the defendant tried to cut his own neck with a knife, before being restrained by officers.

‘Blood was pouring from his neck. As officers tried to stem the flow of blood, he kicked out and fought them, saying such things as “Leave me, I know what I’ve done.”

He was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery.

In his pocket police found three notes confessing to the murders and giving reasons why they were committed.

A note was also found at Ms Pickles’ home signed by the defendant implicating him the in the murder and saying she did not deserve to die, the court heard.

Mr Brown said: ‘The defendant’s actions were as cold blooded as they were determined.

‘The defendant, you may think, was ruthless.

‘The killings, linked as they are plainly, were no accident.

‘Given his determination and the use of a knife to the neck of each victim, the defendant can have intended nothing less than to kill.’

Peacock told police: ‘It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it, so just get me to court, put me in front of a judge and let him make up his mind.’

Peacock, of Harrow Road, Maida Hill, west London, denies two counts of murder.

The trial continues.