It was at 12.40 in the morning, October 31st, Halloween, when Heather Stephenson-Snell arrived in Radcliffe. She parked her G-registered Ford Escort around the corner from Holland Street, covered her face with the mask and strode up to June Day’s front door and started hammering on it.
June was alarmed by the commotion but wisely looked through the spy hole before opening the door. She didn’t like what she saw and decided to keep her door locked. This was enough to send the masked gunwoman into a murderous fury. She hammered on the door, screaming to be let in.
It was at this point that an angry next-door neighbour, Bob Wilkie, decided he’d had enough.
“Can you keep the noise down, we’ve got babies in here,” he said angrily as he opened the front door to confront the grotesque figure.
Heather’s blood was boiling over. She told Bob to get inside and mind his own business.
Bob said something about cheeky bloody kids disturbing the whole street and reached out to remove the Scream mask. It was the last thing he did.
Standing no more than a yard from her victim, Heather swivelled the shotgun until the barrel was inches from Bob’s stomach and blasted him. The force of the recoil was such that it even blacked the killer’s eyes and grazed her face.
Bob Wilkie lurched forward and fell face down into his own blood. Within seconds the street was alive with screaming women and distraught neighbours…