A BASINGSTOKE couple were stabbed to death in their own home while their toddler son was asleep, a court was told.

Geoffrey and Michelle Hibbert were allegedly “inexplicably and savagely murdered” by their “friend” Stanley Elliott on June 20, 2021, at their South Ham bungalow.

Police found their bodies in the property on Buckland Avenue on Father’s Day.

This week, Elliott, of Kiln Road, Sherborne St John, has gone on trial at Winchester Crown Court.

The trial heard how Elliott had been babysitting for the couple while they were out in Reading. At around 1.30am Mr and Mrs Hibbert returned home.

You can read the full story in this week’s edition of The Gazette.

Also in this week's paper:

  • Tributes are paid to a former mayor of Basingstoke and a long-serving councillor for South Ham has died aged 89
  • The leader of Basingstoke and Deane Borough council resigned from his position. We have all the latest reactions from fellow councillors
  • Parents of children with severe learning difficulties or disabilities are fighting to save a respite unit in Basingstoke which is under threat of closure by the county council
  • Residents will soon be able to have their say on plans for the future of Basingstoke’s leisure park, find out how you can have your say
  • A mum from South Ham is over the moon after her housing association started work to remove mould from her flat following concerns for the health of her son who is on full-time oxygen support
  • Residents living in Basingstoke and Deane are set to see their council tax bills increase by £5 a year as the borough council’s cabinet backed the latest budget proposal
  • A campaign forced the council to look at speed restrictions in villages and residential streets, as a 20mph speed limit is reviewed by the council
  • PLUS: All the latest from Basingstoke Magistrates' Court.
  • Two pages of your letters to the editor.
  • Pictures: Fitness champion finally opens her new female-only gym
  • Two pages of news from our communities
  • An eight-page puzzle special
  • Two pages of business news
  • Three pages of entertainment news
  • Four pages of sports news. And much more!

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