On Friday, March 13, 1987, Mary Connor was awoken by desperate hammering on her door. Her neighbour, Philip Ashcroft, stood covered in blood with his hands bound behind his back. After she cut his bonds, the 31-year-old schoolteacher rushed back to his home on Broadway, Eccleston, frantic to find his three-year-old daughter, Rachel.
After carrying the toddler outside, he returned inside, followed by Mrs Connor, who found him crouched over the lifeless body of his wife, Glenys. He carried her upstairs and placed her on a bed, where he gave her "the kiss of life" - but it was no use. The 33-year-old mum, a beloved nursery teacher at Wargrave C of E Primary School in Newton-le-Willows, was already dead.
The staged burglary
A 999 call from Mrs Connor sent police racing to the scene. In January 1988, the Liverpool ECHO reported officers "found blood on the walls and stairs and paint sprayed on the walls, and the house ransacked." Ashcroft was said to be highly emotional, "ranging from depression and distress to aggression and even hysteria." He told police that when he returned from band practice he found his wife crouching in the hallway, felt blows to his head, and had his hands tied behind him. He claimed three assailants were in the house, including a Scouser, a lanky person with bushy hair, and someone who smelt of cigarettes or 'something else'.
Detectives soon realised there were no signs of forced entry. Paint sprayed on the walls conveniently went around one of Ashcroft's favourite paintings. His behaviour raised further suspicion - he seemed more interested in discussing his school's band than his wife's murder. Within hours, Ashcroft admitted to strangling his wife following an argument, when Glenys had thrown a bottle at him. He had staged the scene to look like a burglary, and he had not acted alone.
The secret obsession
Angela Page, of New Street, Sutton, was Philip Ashcroft's secret obsession. She was 17, a former pupil of Ashcroft's at Sutton High School. Throughout the case, she was described as his "girl lover" and "mistress", with a "fatal attraction" to the married dad-of-one. Page, a flugelhorn player, became one of his star pupils as the school's bandmaster. They also played side by side in the St Helens Centre A Band.
Ashcroft later claimed he became aware of Page's schoolgirl crush when she was around 14. He sent her flowers, Valentine cards and birthday cards, took her out for meals, and kept her photograph hidden in his wallet. When Page developed anorexia and was detained at Rainhill Hospital, weighing a life-threatening five stone, Ashcroft visited her with Glenys and Rachel in tow.
Glenys's mum Doreen Edwards told the ECHO: "I had known for a long time that something was wrong. I could see it in Glenys' eyes. She looked sad." She added that months before her death, Glenys started talking about insurance and said she was insured for £68,000 (£204,216 today).
The night of the murder
On the night of March 12, 1987, muffled screams were heard from the Ashcrofts' bedroom. A neighbour heard Glenys shout: "What have you done to me? What have you done to me?" then "I love you, I love you." Ashcroft had summoned Page to the house, and she arrived before Glenys was murdered. The row culminated in Ashcroft attacking Glenys, first upstairs, then on the staircase and in the hallway, where he "choked the life out of her". He then recruited Page to stage the scene, ransacking the house to fake a burglary. He instructed the 17-year-old to tie him up and put sticky tape over his mouth. She fled with a bag of blood-stained clothes, which she disposed of in a builder's skip.
At their joint trial, prosecutor Michael Maguire said: "There would not have been room for two sets of hands on the throat of Glenys Ashcroft, but although Angela Page's hands were not on the dead woman's throat, she was just as guilty as Philip Ashcroft."
The trial and aftermath
The trial took place at Liverpool Crown Court in January 1988, with both accused of murder. Both pleaded not guilty, with Ashcroft admitting the lesser charge of manslaughter on grounds of provocation and lack of intent. Neighbour Dorothy Parr gave evidence of hearing the screams. Ashcroft was emotional throughout, and a letter he wrote to Page from HMP Risley was read out, urging her to change her story. He wrote: "Be brave and change to the truth, I have told them that's what happened and you must also."
The jury took five hours to convict Ashcroft of murder. He showed no emotion, but shook his head when Page was found guilty an hour later. Ashcroft received a life sentence, while Page was "detained at her majesty's pleasure" and received an eight-year sentence. After release, she became a committed Christian and church volunteer. In 1998, The Wirral Globe reported she moved to Blackburn, got married, and took a new name. After three years sharing her story with young people in Darwen, she gave up the role to have a baby.
