Schizophrenic artist, 32, obsessed with witchcraft, stabbed stranger to death while walking his dog in a park after repeatedly ‘escape’ from mental health wards

A crazed woman stabbed a stranger to death while walking his dog in a park after repeatedly ‘escape’ from mental health care, it can be revealed.

Artist Emma Borowy, 32, is said to be a schizophrenic obsessed with witchcraft. She was previously arrested for slaughtering two pet goats in a form of ‘sacrifice’ and allegedly threatened to ‘stab someone in the heart’ just three weeks before killing Roger Leadbeater, 74.

Borowy was charged with the murder of Councilor Leadbeater in Sheffield Park in August.

He died of multiple stab wounds after the apparently random and motionless attack, which raises disturbing questions about the role of the mental health system.

It is understood she was in the care of Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust at the time of the murder.

The case will now never come to trial again as she died a week ago in a ‘suspected suicide’ at New Hall Prison in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Borowy was assessed as to her fitness to stand trial and at a hearing at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC said she would be transferred to a hospital dedicated to supporting people with mental health problems.

Passing the case to the coroner, Judge Richardson said: ‘This case, taken as a whole, is sadly unprecedented in almost every dimension.’

Details of Borowy’s disturbing previous behavior and the fact she was deemed a ‘danger’ can now be revealed for the first time as legal restrictions have been lifted.

Her father Karl, 64, said Borowy, who had a young son, had been admitted to mental health units in Warrington, Salford and Bolton but had often run away.

He said, “It seems she can escape whenever she wants. That’s what she said to my wife. I think these units should be safer. She must have escaped ten times in the last two years.’

Father-of-four Mr Borowy said she was allowed to return home three months ago but ‘couldn’t cope’ and returned to the Royal Bolton Hospital ward. She also had a drug problem, he said.

Mr Borowy said one of his sons, who still lived at home, told him not to let her in because he considered her a ‘danger’.

Commenting on Mr Leadbeater’s murder in August, he said: ‘We knew she was very ill but this is a new dimension.’

He added: “I think the mental health system may be struggling and dealing with too many people. The counselor she had had seemed to change every few months. I also don’t think Emma took her meds properly while she was away.’

A neighbor in Fearnhead Close, Bolton, where Borowy lived, said she told her she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and autism.

Police called a number of times to ask if Borowy had been seen after leaving a secure mental health unit. She had not been seen at home for about three months when the murder occurred.

The neighbor said Borowy had an “interest in witchcraft,” including making homemade “voodoo dolls” from toys and placing star symbols and stone arrangements around her home. She also said Borowy made an alarming visit to a friend’s house just three weeks before the stabbing in Sheffield.

“Emma showed up on his doorstep,” she said. “She said she would stab someone in the heart if they came to her.”

Borowy is also said to be responsible for the ‘ritual’ slaughter of two goats in October last year.

The animals belonged to a local family. They were stolen and later found with ‘broken bones and slit throats.’

Owner Emma McLeod, 39, said Borowy was arrested but never prosecuted. She said: ‘We said at the time that if she can kill animals, she can kill a human. She terrorized another farm before us, sitting in the trees and pretending to be a bird. But she was never accused of the goats. They only blamed her mental health.”

The goats were found where a hole had been dug and there was also a pentagon – a symbol used in black magic.

Mrs McLeod said: ‘It looked like some sort of sacrifice or ritual. She clearly needed help and had to be locked up.”

A full inquest into Mr Leadbeater’s death will take place later.

Authorities have not revealed details of her psychiatric care and it is not clear why she traveled 40 miles to Sheffield.

The victim’s niece, Angela Hector, said yesterday that she only heard about Borowy’s death by “seeing it on the news.” She said authorities had failed her family again.

Mr Leadbeater was walking his Springer Spaniel Max when he was stabbed to death. The dog stayed by his side. At the time, his family paid tribute to a ‘good, hardworking and decent man’ whose job was to take children with special needs to school.

“As a family we can hardly believe that such a kind, gentle soul could be taken in such a way,” they said.

The family is being helped by Hundred Families, a charity that supports families who have lost loved ones due to mental health killings.

The charity’s Julian Hendy said the family wrongly believed Borowy was in a secure psychiatric unit when she killed herself. He said the family “has been left in the dark and feels completely abandoned.”

The tragic case comes after another shocking murder committed by a patient living in Bolton under the care of Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust.

Emily Jones, seven, was fatally attacked as she rode her scooter in her local park in Bolton on Mother’s Day in March 2020.

She was stabbed to death by Albanian-born Eltiona Skana, 33, who had developed paranoid schizophrenia after lying about being a victim of human trafficking to gain asylum. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility and is serving a life sentence.

NHS bosses commissioned an independent inquiry last year which criticized a ‘tick-box culture’ at the struggling trust, saying the understanding of the risks posed by Skana before Emily’s death was ‘poor’.

MailOnline has contacted Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust.