A Louth mum and her young son were stabbed to death by her ex-partner after enjoying a happy bedtime chat with the boy’s grandmother, a jury heard on Wednesday.
Daniel Boulton, 30, admits the manslaughter of his former girlfriend Bethany Vincent, 26, and nine-year-old Darren Henson but denies their murder.
Bethany and Darren, known to his family as DJ, were both found stabbed to death at their home in High Holme Road, Louth, shortly after 8pm on May 31.
A cordon in place while a manhunt was under way for 29-year-old Daniel Boulton. | Photo: John Aron
Caroline Vincent, Bethany’s mother and DJ’s grandmother, today (Wednesday) gave evidence on the third day of Boulton’s trial at Lincoln Crown Court.
Mrs Vincent gave her account from a witness box just a couple of metres from the glass panelled dock where Boulton listened to her evidence.
A community in shock. Tributes outside the home of Bethany Vincent and her son Darren Henson. | Photo: John Aron
She described how her last contact with Bethany and DJ was in a bedtime Facetime conversation on the evening they were killed.
Asked by Katherine Goddard QC, prosecuting, how they seemed Mrs Vincent replied: “They were very happy.
“DJ had his Chelsea football top on, he was going to sleep in it.”
A GoFundMe page was set up to raise money towards the funerals of alleged Louth murder victims Bethany Vincent and Darren Henson.
Mrs Vincent revealed Bethany was due to move house just four days later.
The jury heard Bethany began seeing Boulton in March 2019 and the relationship initially went well.
But the prosecution allege Boulton became increasingly violent towards Bethany and that following a complaint to police he was ordered not to contact her but “repeatedly broke it”.
| Photo: John Aron
The court heard Bethany’s previous relationship with DJ’s father, Kieran Henson, broke down when he was just a toddler, but Mrs Vincent described him as an “excellent dad” who would see his son on weekends and in the holidays
Mrs Vincent said Boulton initially “seemed a nice smart lad”.
The good period lasted for “some months,” until Bethany became distant, and gave up her job, Mrs Vincent told the jury.
“She didn’t want me to go round as much,” Mrs Vincent added. “He [Boulton] was staying a lot.”
People laying flowers in memory of Bethany and Darren. | Photo: Graeme Whitworth
Mrs Vincent said she began to notice other changes.
“He [Boulton] was always with her, we didn’t seem to get much time with her, ” Mrs Vincent told the jury. “He was quite possessive over her.”
The jury heard DJ was diagnosed with autism when he was two-and-a-half years old. Mrs Vincent said Boulton initially seemed fine with DJ but that changed later in the relationship.
“He [Boulton] said to us once he didn’t think DJ was autistic, he was just naughty.”
Mrs Vincent said the relationship became “on-off” and she would try to visit her daughter when Boulton wasn’t there.
“I knew he wasn’t treating my daughter properly,” Mrs Vincent told the jury. “He didn’t like me.”
Flowers outside the home in Louth in memory of Bethany and Darren. | Photo: Daniel Jaines
Mrs Vincent added: “He was never nasty, [about DJ] but he would say ‘DJ was picking on him.’ ”
Mrs Vincent told the jury about one incident where her daughter called the police after moving to High Holme Road in Louth.
She described how during her visit Boulton gripped his fists and repeated “I am Dan.”
“Bethany ended up on the sofa. He [Boulton] was leaning over her.
“Bethany managed to get the phone and called the police.”
When asked to describe how Boulton was acting Mrs Vincent replied: “Angry, loud, nasty.”
She added: “I was scared the situation she was in.”
Double murder suspect Daniel Boulton resisted arrest following a manhunt in Louth | Photo: BBC
Following the incident Boulton was prevented from contacting Mrs Vincent and her daughter by an injunction, the jury heard.
Mrs Vincent said from that day she understood her daughter’s relationship with Boulton had ended, adding, “I got my daughter back.”
It is alleged that in the weekend before the stabbings Boulton sent nearly 900 messages to Bethany on Facebook.
Ms Goddard said Boulton had also developed a “hatred” for DJ – who had autism.
On May 31, the day of the attack, she said Boulton walked 28 miles from his home in Skegness to Bethany’s home in High Holme Road where he repeatedly stabbed her and DJ.
The site of Daniel Boulton’s arrest at Hubbard’s Hill in Louth. | Photo: John Aron
When police arrived at the property they found Bethany in the front room and DJ lying on the floor in his bedroom.
Ms Goddard said both had been stabbed and there were also “marks consistent with blunt force trauma”.
The court heard Bethay and her son had been due to move to an address unknown to Boulton just a few days later.
Ms Goddard said that officers also found a nine-month old baby crawling around the house “untouched and unharmed but clearly distressed”.
| Photo: John Aron
Jurors heard that after the attack Boulton had spent the night on the run.
Ms Goddard said at one stage he broke into an empty cottage at Hubbards Hills, on the outskirts of Louth, where he stole some alcohol, clothing and food and left a note saying “I, Daniel Boulton, take full responsibility”.
The court heard the next day he assaulted off-duty police officer PC Stephen Dennis who was walking his dog near Hubbards Hill, Louth, and tried to detain him.
Boulton was later cornered in a barn and tasered after trying to get some of the armed officers to shoot him, the court heard.
Ms Goddard told the jury there is “no dispute” Boulton stabbed both victims, but that he claims he was “suffering from a recognised mental condition which substantially impaired his ability to form a rational judgement and exercise self-control”.
Boulton, of Alexandra Road, Skegness, denies murdering Ms Vincent and her son.
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Thousands of metres of underground cable were stolen in the village of Harby near Lincoln, leaving residents without the use of their landline telephones and, in several cases, broadband too.
Residents in Broadholme have also been impacted and Openreach engineers are working hard to resolve the issue, with repairs “likely to run into next week”.
More than 4,000 metres of underground telecommunication cable was stolen from an area stretching from the A156 junction near to Broadholme village towards Harby in the early hours of May 22.
It is believed the offenders accessed the cable via manhole covers and dragged out hundreds of metres of copper core cable, destroying fibre optic cable in the process. This caused damage to the network and disruption to phone and broadband services for around 200 local homes and businesses.
This isn’t the first incident this month. A Harby resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Lincolnite he believes 2km of underground cable was also stolen two weeks ago and then “whilst it was being relaid last week another 1500m went missing”.
He said: “As you can imaging residents of the village are running out of patience. It is affecting the whole village.
“The biggest concern is that my wife is disabled and we often need medical assistance. Considering the poor mobile phone signal in the village, getting in touch with emergency services in the event of an issue could be life threateningly difficult.”
A spokesperson for Openreach said: “We’re really disappointed that villagers in Harby are having to bear the brunt of criminal behaviour and theft from our network.
“More than 4,000 metres of underground cable was taken earlier this week and damage to the network is causing disruption to phone and broadband services for around 200 local homes and businesses.
“Engineers are already on site and have been working overnight to restore phone and broadband to those impacted as quickly as possible. We’ve also brought in extra resource from as far away as the West Midlands.
“However, this is a huge job and despite our best efforts, repairs are very likely to run into next week due to the extent of the damage.
“We urge people to report any suspicious activity that they spot in and around our infrastructure to the police.”
Lincolnshire Police have also been contacted for a statement.
Today, 24 May, the NPCC and College of Policing have launched the Police Race Action Plan, designed to improve policing for Black people.
The plan aims to address race disparities affecting Black people and change the distrust that some Black people have in the policing service. It sets out several commitments that are aimed at helping to build an anti-racist police service.
Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable Chris Haward has voiced his support for the plan and described how it will be brought into the force.
“We are fully behind this plan in Lincolnshire, and I am committed to working to ensure its ambitions become a reality. It’s not enough that we simply do not tolerate racism, we must actively seek it out, stand up to it, and drive it out, wherever we might find it. We want to make sure we are an anti-racist force that serves all our communities with fairness and impartiality and that it is one which Black people can trust.
“Policing has come a long way, it is more inclusive, diverse and representative of our communities than ever, but there is more to do, and this national plan helps set the challenge and the standard. This is a vital piece of work in policing because it demonstrates our zero-tolerance approach to racism in the service. This is more than just looking at policing culture and overt behaviours, which we are already doing, – we need to examine our policies, practices and procedures to look at where pockets of discrimination might exist against Black communities and understand how they got there. By doing that we can eradicate them from the service and make sure they don’t creep back in.
“Since becoming Chief Constable I have made clear to the entire workforce of Lincolnshire Police my beliefs and subsequent expectations around inclusion and diversity. They are that we make sure that race, diversity, and inclusion is something that runs through the very heart of our culture and is just who we are. I want to ensure that we treat everybody fairly and with respect, regardless of their background, their religion, their beliefs, their race, their sexuality, their gender, the colour of their skin, and that we make sure we are the people who uphold the highest standards in society.
“We are moving forward positively. In the last few months alone, we have started taking a renewed look at our internal culture, practices, behaviours and values, and have been encouraging and having challenging conversations about these issues. We know that the vast majority of police officers and staff do not tolerate racism and come into work every day determined to deliver a high standard of policing to people in Lincolnshire, and we want to make sure that is replicated in all areas of the organisation.
“Now, the next steps for us are that we begin to look in detail at the actions set out in the plan and start to devise our own delivery and development plan.”
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