When Sadie Hartley opened her front door to a stranger holding a bouquet, she had no idea she was participating in a macabre rehearsal for her own brutal murder. This seemingly benign act was, in fact, a cold-blooded test by two women who had spent 17 months plotting what they believed would be the perfect crime.
The Sinister Rehearsal and a "Demonic" Attack
In early January 2016, 60-year-old Sadie Hartley answered a knock at her home in Helmshore, Lancashire. A woman she had never seen before handed her a bunch of flowers and then vanished without a word, leaving Sadie baffled. This was a calculated trial run by Sarah Williams and her accomplice Katrina Walsh to confirm Sadie would answer the door when alone.
Just one week later, on the evening of 14 January 2016, the plot reached its horrific conclusion. With her partner, former fireman Ian Johnston, away on a ski trip, Sadie was home alone. The killers, who had tracked Ian's movements, knew this. When Sadie answered another knock, Williams lunged, pressing a stun gun to her head. Defenceless and paralysed, Sadie was then stabbed 41 times with a kitchen knife in an attack later described in court as displaying "almost demonic savagery".
An Obsession That Fueled a Murder Plot
The motive for this meticulously planned assassination was twisted obsession. Williams, then 35, had previously had an affair with Ian Johnston after they met at an indoor ski slope in 2011. When Ian ended it, refusing to leave Sadie, Williams became fixated on removing her rival.
She enlisted friend Katrina Walsh, and together they embarked on an elaborate plan. They travelled to Germany to buy the stun gun, purchased a getaway car, and even bought boots that were too large to confuse forensic evidence. Walsh's chilling diary entries revealed her warped mindset, with one note reading: "Wow, I may be instrumental in helping remove the awful woman."
Justice for a "Caring, Gentle" Woman
The investigation moved swiftly. Police discovered blood in the killers' getaway car and in Williams's bath. CCTV footage also captured the earlier flower delivery trial run. Both women were found guilty of murder.
In a powerful statement outside court, Detective Superintendent Paul Withers said: "This murder was nothing short of the cold-blooded, premeditated and carefully planned assassination of an entirely innocent woman." Mr Justice Turner sentenced Williams to life with a minimum term of 30 years, and Walsh to life with a minimum of 25 years, stating it was a crime of "obsession, arrogance, barbarity and pure evil".
The human cost was immeasurable. Sadie's daughter, Charlotte, had got engaged just three days before the murder. She described her mother as "a very caring, gentle, kind lady, always happy and incredibly trustworthy." Ian Johnston expressed eternal regret for maintaining contact with Williams, never imagining his "chuck away, ridiculous texts could ever lead to such atrocious events." A decade on, the case remains a stark testament to the deadly consequences of obsession.
