Police released CCTV footage yesterday showing the last known movements of the man who hung himself after the murder of a nine-year-old girl.
Darren Walker was captured on camera at Eye service station near Peterborough with Stacey Lawrence at around 3pm on Friday where they bought dinner.
The CCTV images show the Spar lorry in which they had been making deliveries pull up in the forecourt. Walker, wearing a dark polo shirt and trousers, and Stacey, wearing a pink t-shirt and black trousers, walk into the service station together. They wander through the aisles buying food and drink for their dinner before approaching the till to pay.
The footage was released as several of Walker’s former girlfriends came forward to help detectives.
Walker is believed to have killed his partner’s daughter and left her body in the cab of his white Spar lorry before taking his own life. Since the discovery of the two bodies on Saturday afternoon, police have been piecing together the life of a 40-year-old whom friends thought was a devoted family man.
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Roxanne Lawrence, Stacey’s mother, said earlier this week that she was struggling to come to terms with the fact that Walker “was not the man we thought he was”. Since the deaths, officers at Northamptonshire Police have confirmed that they are examining a possible sexual motive for the killing.
Police said they had identified the woman who stated that Walker made a sexual approach to her when she was aged 15. They have also interviewed Walker’s estranged wife, who has detailed a series of abuse, including the circumstances surrounding Walker’s caution for actual bodily harm.
Detective Chief Inspector Tricia Kirk said: “I have already said there is no evidence to suggest that Stacey was subjected to a serious sexual assault before she died but I believe some sexual touching did take place.
“I am still waiting for the results of forensic tests which I hope will help me to establish a fuller picture of what took place on Friday evening.”
Stacey and Walker, who left wholesale distribution firm AF Blakemore & Son’s depot in Willenhall, West Midlands, at around 4am on Friday, had been on several trips together before.
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Walker made deliveries across Norfolk throughout Friday, stopped briefly near Peterborough at about 3pm, and arrived in Warmington at about 3.35pm. The pair ate a meal of macaroni cheese together that evening and Stacey’s mother spoke to Walker that evening.
It is thought Stacey was killed in the lorry at some point on Friday night. She was strangled using a ligature of black fabric, Ms Kirk said. The same sort of fabric, possibly some sort of strapping, was also used by Walker to hang himself, she said.