Woman texted plea for help to sister before she was stabbed 153 times

Lee Tipping stabbed his mother Patricia Livesey and father Anthony Tipping a total of 284 times at the family's Cann Bridge Street address on November 20 2021.

At his murder trial at Preston Crown Court today, his uncle, Martin Riding, said 36-year-old was 'completely self-absorbed', and could 'turn at the flip of a coin'.

"There was only one person in Lee's life. He was number one. If he wanted something, a new shirt or new hat, he wouldn't get one, he'd get four or five. He was spoilt, in my opinion. But they (his parents) would give into him to have a peaceful life," he said.

He said that Tipping, who had a history of mental health problems, was frequently at odds with his parents, who sometimes referred to him as 'a little sh*t'.

The father and son once got into a fight on Christmas Eve, when family members found them grappling on the floor.

Mr Riding said: "(Anthony) would say that Lee was very hard work. He just wished he could find out some answers, why he was the way he was.

"I had never, ever seen Anthony touch his son. I had never seen him use violence."

He added, however, that Mr Tipping had once commented 'I might be 60, but I sorted him out' following an 'incident' with his son.

On the night of November 19, Mr Tipping and Mrs Livesey went to the Mill Tavern pub and the Swan Inn with Mr Riding and his wife, Mrs Livesey's sister, Catherine.

Shortly after arriving at the Mill Tavern, Mr Tipping received a phonecall from his son, who told him he had 'kicked the bedroom door down', to which Mr Tipping responded: "You'd better f***ing not have."

Mr Riding said that Mrs Livesey seemed 'anxious' about the situation, while Mrs Riding told the court that her sister seemed 'scared to go home'.

She said: "She said 'this could be my last gin'. She didn't want to go home. She'd never really said that before. I said why, and she said she just didn't want to go home. So I knew there was something."

She approached Mr Tipping about her sister's behaviour, who told her of their plans to have their adult son leave the family home.

He said: "Lee's on a course next week, and then he's out."

Shortly after arriving home, at around 11.30pm, Mrs Livesey texted Mrs Riding: "OK, I'll probably not sleep, he's being a f***ing shit."

Ten minutes later, she texted: "Please God, I hope someone will help us."

Mrs Riding responded, telling Mrs Livesey to call either her or the police, but her message was not read.

She said: "I was worried. Something kept telling me something wasn't right. I kept telling myself it would all be alright. I didn't want to make things worse for them."

The following day, when Mrs Livesey failed to arrive at her mum's house for dinner, Mrs Riding and her other sister, Pauline Haworth, visited Cann Bridge Street, where they found the door locked and milk still on the doorstep. After making numerous unanswered phonecalls to Mrs Livesey and Mr Tipping, they called 999 at 1.43pm on November 20.

The couple's bodies were found in the upstairs of the house later that day, after police broke down a side door.

Tipping, who had booked a last minute plane ticket to Rome and had fled to Manchester Airport, was arrested outside a Premier Inn hotel, where he was staying under a fake name, the following day.

He told police his father had been "bullying him all his life".

A neighbour, Deborah Littlejohn, said that Mr Tipping had indeed been described as 'a bully', and that he had once verbally abused her. But she added: "But I wouldn't say that he was vicious, as in he wouldn't start a fight physically."

Lee Tipping, meanwhile, was described as 'isolated' and 'a loner' who had no friends growing up.

Mr Riding said that, in either June or July 2021, his nephew had told him he wanted to turn his life around.

He said: "He decided he was going to become this new Lee. He said things were going to change, he was going to stop taking his medication because he'd been on it too long, people had been getting him down and he was going to stop it.

"He was going to get a job, get a girlfriend and hopefully settle down and marry her.

"In Lee's mind, there was Lee. He would do anything for himself. He didn't care about other people."

When asked by Andrew Ford, defending, whether his nephew was vulnerable, he said: "When he wanted to be. He could turn things around to his own advantage. When he wanted to be very nice, he could be. It was like he had a split personality. He could turn at the flip of a coin."