Shocked neighbours have described the moment they smashed in windows to find the blood soaked body of a murdered mum-of-three who was stabbed to death.
The victim, who has been named locally as Monika Lasek, 36, was found in the corridor of a family home which she shared with her husband and three teenage children – a boy and two girls.
Monika’s 14-year-old son raised the alarm after he came home from the shops to find his mum covered in blood and a man threatening to hang himself.
Neighbour Janusz Sawka explained he had known the family for five years since they moved in to the address on Solstice Way, Halifax, West Yorks.
Janusz said he was at home on Sunday morning (26 Nov) when Monika’s teenage son started hammering on his door.
The 65-year-old retired factory worker said: “He was screaming and shouting for me to help him.
“He said, ‘my mother is on the floor and there’s lots of blood.”
Janusz said the boy was confronted with the scene after returning home from a trip to a Morrisons supermarket.
He added: “So when he got back he tried to go inside as normal.
“When he went inside she was on the floor.”
Monika’s terrified son raised the alarm and Janusz said he called the police while his two nephews tried to break down the front door of the family home.
When they couldn’t get through, Janusz said he told them to smash the windows and climb in.
Janusz said: “They opened the door from the inside and Monika was in the floor.
“There was a lot of blood. When I saw her I knew she was already dead.
“I knew them as neighbours so we used to talk about things like the weather all the time, but there’s not much I can really tell you about them.”
He said that Monika’s husband Zbigniew Lasek had told him that she had left him for good.
He said: “They both used to work at a pet food factory, but I don’t think they do now.
“I saw Zbigniew two weeks ago and he told me that Monika had left him for good and he was alone now.
“I think she was working in a hotel.”
A next-door-neighbour who saw the horrific scenes inside the house said there was a lot of shouting on the day Monika died.
The neighbour, who doesn’t want to be named, said: “My friend from over the road called me and told me that people were smashing windows.
“It was her son that found them, he’s 14-years-old. He was looking through the letterbox and could see them.
“I came down and the son was there with another neighbour trying to get into the house.
“There was blood everywhere. She was definitely already dead – you could see that.
“We rang the police and they were there within minutes and told us all to leave.
“I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. I’m scared to go back into my own house now because it happened next door.
“I just can’t believe it.”
* A 35-year-old man with minor injuries has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the incident.
