Black Country woman murdered neighbour then applied for credit card in his name

Faye Burford, 41, wrote poems about murder and her struggle between good and evil – and kept a collection of true crime magazines in her flat.

Burford, who was high on cocaine at the time, stabbed 74-year-old artist Peter Flux in the face and neck at his Paignton home on Saturday, February 23, because he refused to lend her £20 to buy drugs.

She left his body on his bed, while she took his wallet and passport.

She spent the next two days with friends telling them about the killing. They did not report it to the police because they did not believe her.

Mr Flux’s body was found four days later after one of them became worried that it might be true.

The murder weapon, empty wallet and her bloodstained clothes were found in bins outside the house.

She also went online to research what sentence she might receive, conditions in women’s prisons and even visiting arrangements.

She marked a page in a true crime magazine about a similar killing – and tried to get a reduced sentence by falsely claiming that she ‘lost it’ when Mr Flux had made sexual advances towards her.

Drugs and prostitution

Burford was born and brought up in West Bromwich, but started using drugs while at school.

She was jailed for a street robbery in the West Midlands and went on to work as a prostitute in the area and in Wales, before moving to Devon.

At the time of Mr Flux’s murder, Burford had an £80 a day cocaine habit, was thousands of pounds in debt and had just 31p in her bank account.

Within eight hours of the killing, she had used his passport details to make a successful application for a Capital One credit card which she planned to intercept and use when it arrived in the post.

Mr Flux was a retired potter, who still worked as an artist and poet, and was a Buddhist elder who had a shrine in his living room.

He had also been a friend of the Beatles while working at their Apple shop in Marylebone.

He was retired and living in Paignton at a converted Edwardian villa and had lent his neighbour Burford money in the past.

'Wicked and calculating lies'

Burford, of Midvale Road, admitted murder and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years and one month by Judge Peter Johnson at Exeter Crown Court.

Sentencing her, Judge Johnson said: "I am entirely sure that Mr Flux did not behave in the way you alleged. He was a gentle and deeply religious man.

"You went there to obtain money and, tragically, that is what you were able to do.

"You were able to construct a carefully contrived defence, in part by doing research into murder. A compelling piece of evidence was the collection of magazines you had.

"This murder was a massive drug-fuelled over-reaction to you being refused money which he would not give you.

"You have not shown one scintilla of genuine remorse from the moment you left Mr Flux's body in his flat.

"You told wicked and calculating lies about him which have aggravated the suffering of his loved ones.

"He was particularly vulnerable by reason of his age and this was a sustained attack in his home when you were heavily under the influence of cocaine."