By Ashley Young And Charlotte Webster-
A 60-year-old cleaner has admitted repeatedly stabbing his long-term partner to death in a cruel attack over financial issues at their home Crazy . The murder is related to his failure to dealing with financial problems that left the couple of the verge of being evicted.
Crazy Peter Stalgis was said to have “buried his head in the sand” when a mortgage scheme left the couple with a huge debt that he had kept from his partner Angela Conoby. On arrival at the property, cops found a pile of letters from solicitors and an apparent suicide note written by Stalgis which was addressed to Ms Conoby’s sister and her partner. The letter which was read out in court said: “I lost the house and I killed the love of my life. I cannot live with the shame, please forgive me if you can. I deserve to rot in hell.
”As my friends and family I’m so, so sorry to put you all through this. I love you.” Mr Sharp said a pathologist and forensic scientists who examined Ms Conoby’s body found that she had died after a “violent attack with a sharp implement, probably the knife that had been beside her on the floor”. On the hilt of the knife, forensics found traces of Ms Conoby’s blood
Cops also found a large kitchen knife near Peter Stalgis on the floor on their arrival. When the officer asked him where Ms Conoby was, he pointed and at the other side of the room the officer discovered Ms Conoby’s lifeless body. The murder has shocked locals in the Harehills area of Leeds where the murder took place. Stalgis was arrested at the property in Berkeley Mount on the 20th of May, a few days before they were due to be evicted.
The opening trial at Leeds Crown Court today heard details of how a police officer had to force his way inside the house and found Stalgis sitting on a sofa in the dark next to a nearly empty whisky bottle, with the television on. Footage from the officer’s body camera shown to jurors reveals Stalgis repeatedly saying “I lost the house”, “she didn’t know” and “I’m sorry”.
Stalgis pleaded not guilty to Ms Conoby’s murder at an earlier hearing after claiming to have no recollection of killing Ms Conoby, nor the reasons why, despite earlier confessions to police. Addressing a jury of seven women and five men, Mr Sharp opened the trial, saying: “It’s a tragic case.
“For whatever reason, Mr Stalgis never tried to do anything about the situation,” Mr Sharp said. Even the building society’s cheque for the sum generated at the end of their mortgage policy was never cashed in. The couple were due to be evicted on May 23 this year but Mr Sharp said it was not known if Ms Conoby had even seen any of the solicitors’ letters. “Mr Stalgis made no contact with anyone, he answered none of the letters. He kept this to himself,” Mr Sharp said.
The only time it seems he did try to make contact with the solicitors was via the phone on May 7 when the office was unmanned during the early May bank holiday. The following day Stalgis called in sick to work.
“We can’t say exactly when it was that Mr Stalgis killed Angela Conoby but it is likely that it was around this time around the 7th or 8th of May, when for the first time we know not why he called the solicitors and called in sick to work,” Mr Sharp said. Ms Conoby was last seen alive on April 25 when she and Stalgis attended a family funeral and the last time she spoke to anyone is believed to have been on April 29 when she spoke on the telephone.
ADMISSION
However, after his arrest, Stalgis admitted at the police station that he had “done a really bad thing” and asked for forgiveness “for killing the woman he loved”, the court heard. Officers also discovered he had cuts to his left wrist that may have indicated a suicide attempt. Later, when he was formally interviewed, he made no comment to the police’s questions.
At the house, police found a pile of letters from solicitors and an apparent suicide note written by Stalgis which was addressed to Ms Conoby’s sister and her partner. The letter was read out in court and said: “I lost the house and I killed the love of my life. I cannot live with the shame, please forgive me if you can. I deserve to rot in hell.
As my friends and family I’m so, so sorry to put you all through this. I love you.” Mr Sharp said a pathologist and forensic scientists who examined Ms Conoby’s body found that she had died after a “violent attack with a sharp implement, probably the knife that had been beside her on the floor”. On the hilt of the knife, forensics found traces of Ms Conoby’s blood