Man admits Christmas knife 'revenge' murder of woman in Aldi
A man has admitted the "cold-blooded public execution" of a mother of one at the supermarket where she worked just before Christmas.
Neville Hord, 44, pleaded guilty to murdering Jodie Willsher, who was stabbed to death in front of horrified shoppers in an Aldi store in Skipton, North Yorkshire, on December 21 last year.
On Thursday, Bradford Crown Court heard that the motive for the attack by Hord, who was the ex-partner of Mrs Willsher's mother Nicole Dinsdale, was "revenge".
Prosecutor Peter Moulson QC told the court how Hord stabbed Mrs Willsher several times in the store before he was stopped and restrained by members of the public.
He said it was a "cold-blooded public execution perpetrated for the purpose of revenge".
The prosecutor said the attack was witnessed by many people, including a child, as well as caught on CCTV.
He said the attack was pre-planned and the defendant also took an axe with him to the supermarket.
At Mrs Willsher's funeral, her husband Malcolm said the death of his wife had left a "great hole in our lives" and added that she and his daughter were "more than mother and daughter, they were best friends".
At an earlier hearing, Hord's family passed a statement to the media via his lawyers in which they expressed their "sincere condolences" to Mrs Willsher's family and added: "No words can convey our sorrow for this tragic turn of events."
