Pair Accused of £28K Bingo Robbery Before Brutal Slaying

Death by Numbers – The Defendant Takes to the Stand

In January 2020, before the apocalypse took a grip of the world, a popular bingo hall was broken into and some £28K was stolen, and what happened next spiraled from the blame game to a double murder! It may sound like a plot to some mystery television show or even a thriller of a movie but it is in fact a true story.

In 2021, Geoffrey Hibbert 61, and his wife Michelle 29, were slain in their own home while their son was fast asleep, and the culprit was a ‘friend’ who discovered he was about to be framed for the bingo theft. The day before his demise, Mr Hibbert submitted a document to the police which declared his personal mobile phone, which had been found at the site of the robbery, was the same phone Mr Stan Elliot had borrowed the night before, and as a result, placing Elliot at the bingo venue not Hibbert.

Motive for Murder?

The truth is, the married couple were accused of the robbery and Elliott, a man who had suffered a brain hemorrhage in 2007 had only known the pair for a maximum of five years before agreeing to take the blame to protect their son from being taken into care. His reward for pleading guilty to the crime was £4K – with Hibbert and his wife taking the lions share, the remaining £24K.

When asked by Chris Henley QC, defending (about the burglary), whether he thought the share was fair, he said: “I thought that was a good little score. The work was nothing to do with me, he had done all the work.” He continued: “I was going to say that I borrowed the phone and say that he had nothing to do with it.”

But what happened next? It would seem the plan was set in place. The husband and wife carry out the robbery at the Buzz Bingo hall in Basingstoke…

…Elliott takes the blame, gets sentenced to time in prison while the true thieves live happily ever after. Only that’s not what happened here.

Elliott told police Hibbert had been “extra nice” to him the night before the murders all because he was about to take the blame for the bingo robbery. Arriving at their bungalow in Buckland Avenue on June 19^th, 2021, Elliott settled in to babysit the couples son while they went out for the evening. Police arrived at the property in the early hours of the next morning following a call by Mrs. Hibbert to 999 where she tells the operator “Stan Elliott” was attacking her, while using his mobile phone. Sadly, the pair didn’t survive the attack.

Elliott denies murder by exclaiming all was okay when he left them that night. When police found him he had scratches and scrapes on his body. The court heard, Elliott has a lack of concentration and “frequent outbursts of aggression and can exhibit abusive behaviour” which he would usually not remember afterwards, because of his condition. The trial continues.

Source: “Man Accused of Double Murder was ‘Planning to Take the Blame’ for Bingo Burglary”. Basingstoke Gazette. February 23, 2022.