Sadie Hartley was stabbed 41 times after answering her door to a woman she had never met
Jon Macpherson, Gary Stewart Weekend editor and Liam Mcinerney
17:33, 04 Jan 2026Updated 17:33, 04 Jan 2026
Stills from a trailer for ITV programme ‘ The murder of Sadie Hartley ‘ showing the arrest of Sarah Williams, from Wirral
Nearly a decade has passed since two women bought a floral arrangement that was delivered directly to Sadie Hartley’s home – where she unknowingly participated in a dry run for her own murder. Sadie, 60, was puzzled when she opened her front door in Helmshore, Rossendale, having never encountered the woman standing before her. Before any words could be exchanged, the mysterious visitor had disappeared.
A week later, on January 14 2016, Sadie opened her door again, but this occasion brought no flowers – instead, she faced the second woman, brandishing a stun gun and blade that would be used to stab her 41 times. This horrific killing in January 2016 was characterised in court as being of “almost demonic savagery”. Here we revisit what was recently dubbed “one of Britain’s most disturbing modern cases” on the Coffeehouse Crime YouTube channel.
Who was Sadie Hartley?
Sadie, raised in a council property in Nottinghamshire, was a successful entrepreneur who co-ran her own company, Hartley Taylor Medical Communications, alongside her friend Julie Taylor. She was also a mum of two and was in a relationship with former firefighter Ian Johnston, reports Lancs Live.
But her fulfilling and prosperous life ended in what police described as a “brutal slaying”. The women responsible for the killing, the very same pair who had bought the flowers, were Wirral landlady Sarah Williams and her accomplice Katrina Walsh.
Sadie Hartley
Who was Sarah Williams?
Sadie Hartley’s horrific killing took place more than 50 miles away from the three-bedroomed house in Boyd Close, Leasowe, that Williams owned, but it quickly emerged the property’s landlady was a prime suspect in the mum’s death.
“Psycho” Williams grew up on the borders of Cheshire and Merseyside, taking up lessons at Wirral Riding Centre in Neston from the age of 12 before going to secondary school in Birkenhead at 17.
Williams, 35, was fixated on Sadie’s partner, Ian Johnston, and viewed her as a barrier to them being together. Ian Johnston had admitted to a previous affair with Williams, though it had ended when he refused to leave Sadie.
Their initial encounter occurred at Manchester’s Chill Factore indoor ski facility in 2011, leading to an affair before he tried to call it off months afterwards. Williams then devised a wicked plot alongside her friend Walsh.
She even sent a ‘spiteful’ letter to her former lover’s partner saying they were still enjoying “unbelievably fantastic” sex but after the letter failed to break up the couple, “obsessed” Williams attacked businesswoman Ms Hartley with “demonic savagery”.
Williams and her accomplice Walsh spent 17 months carefully orchestrating what they considered would be the “perfect murder” of Sadie. Walsh was responsible for delivering the flowers before Williams turned up a week afterwards to carry out the killing.
Undated handout photo issued by Lancashire Police of Katrina Walsh (left) and Sarah Williams as the accomplice of “bunny boiler” Williams reportedly feared the murderer would kill her too by lacing her food with prawns. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Sunday August 21, 2016. Walsh is said to have believed Williams, who stabbed love rival Sadie Hartley to death after shooting her with a 500,000 volt stun-gun, would frame her as the suspect in a murder-suicide plot. See PA story POLICE Hartley. Photo credit should read: Lancashire Police/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Walsh documented disturbing diary entries detailing their warped intentions, with one passage stating: “Wow, I may be instrumental in helping remove the awful woman.” “I have no moral qualms, just a serious don’t let us get caught twinge.”
The pair went to Germany to acquire a stun gun and even secured a getaway vehicle. Following their successful practice run, during which they learnt that Sadie would open the door when home by herself, they chose to move forward with their scheme.
Stills from a trailer for ITV programme ‘ The murder of Sadie Hartley ‘ due to broadcast September 1, 2016. Pic shows: Sarah Williams in cells
Murder
After looking after her horse for the day, Sadie returned home on January 14, 2016, and with Ian away on a skiing break, she found herself alone at the property. Both Williams and Walsh were fully aware of this situation, having employed a tracking device to monitor his movements.
Around 8pm that night, someone knocked at her door. When she went to answer the door, Williams appearedand instantly attacked, forcing the stun gun against Sarah’s skull, leaving her immobilised and defenceless.
She then went on to inflict 41 stab wounds using a kitchen knife. Sadie was abandoned face-down in a pool of her own blood within the entrance hall, after what was later characterised in court as “uncontrolled butchery”.
Police made the shocking discovery the following day after Sadie’s work colleagues raised concerns about her absence.
Katrina Walsh delivered flowers to Sadie Hartley’s house
Justice
It didn’t take long for authorities to uncover the facts, with Williams being detained three days after the murder. Bloodstains were found in the getaway car and in her bathroom. Five police officers arrested ‘jealous and obsessive’ Williams while she was in bed at 3.10am – three days after she had knifed Ms Hartley in her home. Looking confused, Williams sat bolt upright in her bed in Blacon as PC Jane Davies read her rights.
Sarah Williams being read her rights
CCTV footage also revealed the surveillance operation carried out in the preceding days. During the court case which followed, Ian Johnston was visibly emotional, expressing regret over sharing intimate text exchanges with Williams after their relationship had concluded.
He said: “If people feel that in some way I’ve let them down, that I am responsible by texting, I am profoundly sorry for that and I’ll regret it forever.
“I never for one minute believed that a few chuck away, ridiculous texts could ever lead to such atrocious events and such unimaginable loss for not just me I know that, Sadie’s family, her kids, our friends.”
Ian Johnston whose ex Sarah Williams along with Katrina Walsh have been found guilty at Preston Crown Court, for the savage murder of his partner Sadie Hartley. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday August 10, 2016. The ex-firefighter said Ms Hartley’s family had not spoken to him since the murder and he only found out he was not in the will of the successful businesswoman when prosecutor John McDermott QC answered a jury question while he was sat in court. See PA story COURTS Hartley Johnston Lost. Photo credit should read: Peter Byrne/PA Wire
Both Williams and Walsh were found guilty of murder, with Williams receiving a life sentence and ordered to serve a minimum of 30 years behind bars. Walsh, who bought the weapon used in the killing, was also sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 25 years.
Speaking outside the courthouse, Detective Superintendent Paul Withers said: “This murder was nothing short of the cold-blooded, premeditated and carefully planned assassination of an entirely innocent woman and I welcome today’s verdicts.
“While it may have been Sarah Williams who carried out the actual killing of Sadie Hartley, there can be no doubt that Katrina Walsh helped her every step of the way and was up to her neck in the planning of this brutal slaying.
“They are both as culpable as each other.”
Charlotte Hartley
The daughter of Sadie Hartley broke down in tears as she told how her murdered mother wouldn’t be able help her plan her wedding.
Charlotte Hartley got engaged to her fiance just days before she was told her mother had been brutally killed.
In an emotional interview, she has now told of the pain she feels at knowing her mother won’t be around to plan the ceremony or be a grandmother to her children.
Sadie Hartley’s family and friend talk about their tragic loss
WARNING INTERNET UNKNOWN COPYRIGHT
The trial judge Mr Justice Turner emphasised this was not a “crime of passion” but rather an act of “obsession, arrogance, barbarity and pure evil”. Tragically, Sadie’s daughter Charlotte had celebrated her engagement just three days prior to her mother’s murder, learning of the devastating news through a telephone call while abroad.
She said: “So, I was from an incredibly high to an incredible low. It was just indescribable. You obviously think it would never happen to you and at that moment in time all you want to do is go back home, but I knew she wasn’t going to be there when I got back anyway.
“My mum was a very caring, gentle, kind lady, always happy and incredibly trustworthy – just all over incredible woman.”