TikToker, 37, who stabbed Army veteran, 62, to death and left his body surrounded by confession notes is jailed for life
A TIKTOKER who stabbed an Army veteran to death and left his body surrounded by confession notes has been jailed for life.
Winter Swan-Miller, 37, posted a video of herself saying she had been a “bad girl” hours after murdering Stuart Crocker, 62, at his home.
She stabbed him 27 times at a house in Andover, Hampshire, in the early hours of June 23 last year in “revenge” for letting her therapy dog Oblivion escape.
Stuart, who suffered with PTSD from his time in the Army was only found when his neighbours alerted cops to a foul smell coming from the property more than five days later.
His body was found lying under a white blanket with the TV playing and a switched on fan placed behind his head to keep his body cool.
Swan-Miller also left a number of confession notes by the body as a “trail” for the “pigs” to follow.
They said: “Take my f****** dog you w****. This is why I’ve done this haha.
“How does his death feel haha. You thought I would let you get away with taking me for a fucking mug. Taking my dog, are you real.”
Swan-Miller also took to TikTok hours after the fatal stabbing to brag that she had been a “bag girl”.
In one video, titled ‘Part Two’, Swan-Miller can be heard saying: “Taking my dog from me, the only thing in the entire world that I’ve got.
“I did do what I did and I did it because I had no choice. They took away the only thing in my life that I have got, and that’s my dog Oblivion.”
She had uploaded the videos in an attempt to achieve “fame and notoriety” online.
But she was instead today jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years at Winchester Crown Court.
Nicola Shannon KC, prosecuting, said Swan-Miller had an “intended desire for revenge” regarding “the treatment of her dog”.
The prosecutor added: “Significantly, there has been no indication of remorse or acceptance of responsibility after the killing and indeed, multiple instances where Ms Swan Miller seems to find it amusing.
“The behaviour toward Mr Crocker was controlling and coercive.”
Jurors were told there was a “deprivation of dignity” in the way in which Stuart was killed and Swan-Miller had intended to “humiliate” him.
Passing sentence today, The Recorder of Winchester Judge Morris said: “If fame and notoriety was your goal then by killing Stuart Crocker in the appalling manner you did, you succeeded in achieving it for all the wrong reasons.”
The judge added: “You had a fixation on Stuart Crocker being responsible for allowing your dog escape his flat.
“Your attack on him at an element of revenge in it.”
On the attack, she said: “It was orchestrated in a forceful and aggressive way against a defenceless man.”
Judge Morris described Swan-Miller was a “highly manipulative person” and her actions were “merciless and remorseless”.
The court heard also heard a statement from Stuart’s son Joseph Kingswell, who said his dad suffered PTSD from serving in the Army during the Northern Ireland troubles.
He added: “The day you walked into my father’s life was the day you brought away whatever sanctity and innocence was left in [his] mind,” he said.
“You came into his life under a false pretence and left with your hands bloody, with the blood of my father.”
He continued: “My family has been splintered. I wasn’t even able to say goodbye to him.”
Speaking after the hearing, senior investigating officer Detective Superintendent Rod Kenny said: “Swan-Miller killed Stuart Crocker in the most violent of ways.
“She then spent some hours cleaning the scene, posting on social media and going about her daily business before she fled the county to Walsall.
“When there, she was not laying low or hiding out, but instead she continued to take drugs, party and record further material where she sought to justify her crimes.
“All the while, Mr Crocker lay in his flat undiscovered.
“To this day Swan-Miller has expressed no remorse for the life she took and the pain this has caused so many.”