Damian Homer, 51, was convicted of murder and attempted murder in November 2024 after launching a brutal attack on his partner and her mum while their two young children were at home
A quiet spring evening in a Worcester suburb erupted into chaos when police and paramedics swarmed a residential street, responding to a harrowing double stabbing on March 2, 2024.
Inside the house, Damian Homer stood at the door, blood staining his t-shirt. His partner Stacey Hill and her mother Wendy Francis lay injured on the floor – both stabbed in a frenzied attack that left one dead. The horrifying details of the case have been revealed in full in the BBC Two docuseries Murder 24/7.
Homer had launched a violent assault on Stacey and Wendy in a terrifying outburst, even pausing mid-attack to ask Stacey – bleeding and helpless – for a kiss. As she lay critically wounded, Stacey described hearing the “noise the knife made in my mum”.
READ MORE: Sarah Payne killer Roy Whiting relives moment fellow inmate tried to ‘shank’ him in his cell
Wendy, 61, had rushed to the home after her daughter called in fear, having seen the reflection of a knife in Homer’s pocket in their mirrored wardrobe.
When officers arrived, they restrained Homer against the wall. As he was arrested for attempted murder, he claimed: “Stacey went to stab me, then Wendy came in and they both tried to stab me. I had to protect myself… it’s a good job I did otherwise I’d be the one dead.”
Paramedics found Stacey surrounded by blood, urgently asking them to check on her mother and her two children who had been inside the house at the time. Police carried the two young children to safety, telling them: “Keep your eyes tight, tight, tight” as they were taken past the bodies.
While Stacey, 38, was rushed to hospital, Wendy went into cardiac arrest. Despite efforts to save her, she was pronounced dead at 9:18pm on March 2, 2024.
In police interviews the following morning, Homer claimed he loved Stacey and described a domestic argument escalating. He alleged Stacey tried to grab a knife first, which he took and placed in his pocket. Then he claimed Wendy stormed in and jumped on him, prompting him to draw the knife:
“We fell over and the knife went into her. Stacey was shouting, and she went to grab another knife… and came towards me. I launched at her. And she just froze on the spot.”
But his version immediately raised suspicions. He referred to a “second knife” Stacey had supposedly grabbed – yet when police searched the property, no second knife was found.
With Stacey in critical condition and Wendy dead, investigators turned to other sources. The couple’s children – now in the care of relatives – gave troubling accounts. A social worker noted they played with dolls, identifying one as “Daddy… he’s bad”.
One child said: “One of them got blood on Daddy’s T-shirt, and they were screaming. Daddy was in the kitchen, Mummy was lying down on the kitchen floor, and Nanny’s blood was dripping. Dad was throwing the knife he’d got in his hand, and it hit both of them.”
Homer’s violent past also began to emerge. His former boss Clair recalled his threatening outburst during a disciplinary meeting: “How fing dare they… if I find out it’s you I’m going to fing hurt you.”
He also had a suspended sentence for assaulting Stacey in 2020.
Detectives reviewed the couple’s mobile phones, uncovering evidence of a deteriorating relationship. On the day of the attack, Stacey had texted her mother: “I’ve had to come upstairs… believe me when I say I’m done.”
In another message to Homer, she wrote: “Find somewhere else to live… you’re lucky I ain’t called the police on you.”
To which he replied: “Lol. Only if you buy me out.” Concerned, Stacey’s aunt phoned emergency services:
“She’s just told me her chap’s got a knife in his pocket. Please get there quick.”
When Stacey was finally able to speak, she gave a harrowing account of that night. After a day out at a garden centre, Homer started drinking and grew increasingly aggressive. She went upstairs to get away, and spotted a knife in his pocket via their mirrored wardrobe:
“I said to my auntie, ‘Call the police, he’s got a knife.’ I called my mum and said, ‘Mum, Damo’s got a knife and I think he’s going to kill me.’”
Stacey tried to leave, but Homer pulled her back and began assaulting her. “He was swinging me around the kitchen and punching me in the head. I heard my mum come through the door and say, ‘Get your hands off my f***ing babbi.’ I breathed a sigh of relief – my hero had come to save me.”
But Homer didn’t stop. Instead, he pulled out the knife.
“We both ended up curled up on the floor… he pulled the knife out of his back pocket and stabbed my mum in the left side of her chest, for ages. All I could hear was the noise the knife made in my mum.”
“I tried to get on my mum to stop any more stab wounds being inflicted. He started panicking and as he did that, he came down to me and asked me for a kiss.”
Stacey, stabbed in the chest with a collapsed lung, was losing consciousness. But her thoughts were still with her mother:
“I kept asking about my mum but I could tell by the look on their face that it was bad news.”
Stacey’s detailed testimony, along with the children’s accounts, forensic evidence, and Ring doorbell footage capturing Wendy’s final moments, left police confident Homer’s story was false. He was charged with murder and attempted murder.
Though he initially claimed self-defence, Homer later pleaded guilty and was sentenced in November 2024 to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 20 years.
“Everybody loved Damo,” Stacey reflected. “But when you were living with him 24/7, the mask started to come away. The first time he hit me, he said sorry. But there was no point in ever being happy, because I knew it wouldn’t last.”
“The biggest thing for me was losing my mum. But every time I think about giving up, I look at what my mum did for me. She saved my life and I know now what I have to do for my kids. I have to be the mum to them, that she was to me.”
Murder 24/7 is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.
READ MORE: Collagen supplement slashed from £33 to £10 that ‘improves skin tenfold’ within two weeks
