Sarah-Jane Tranter

**Sarah Jane Tranter** (January 10, 1983 - August 30, 2000) was the eldest child of Lesley Ford and Michael Tranter. She was murdered by her step-father, Lee Ford.

## Events

### Backstory

Sarah-Jane Tranter was the eldest child of Lesley and Michael Tranter, a married couple from Hampshire. In 1987, her parents' marriage broke down but Lesley and Michael remained friends, sharing custody of the four children.

Sarah-Jane's mother met Lee Ford in 1990 and they married in a civil ceremony. Michael Tranter recounts Lee Ford denying him access to his children on several occasions, with Ford claiming that Tranter's children did not want to see him.

Lee began to exhibit possessive and coercive behaviour towards Lesley and her children. Over time, this escalated to physical abuse.

In 1995, Lesley ran away to a caravan in Cornwall with her five children in a bid to escape from Lee. However, the separation didn't last long, with Lee moving to Cornwall and back into Lesley's life within months.

In 1997, the family moved to Bugle, Cornwall. Sarah-Jane was enrolled in the first year of Poltair Secondary School where she met friend, Kelly-Marie McMullen. McMullen remembers Sarah-Jane as being shy but friendly with everyone she met. As their friendship grew, McMullen began inviting Sarah-Jane to do things outside of school with her but Sarah-Jane would always find an excuse not to go - McMullen now knows it was Lee Ford not allowing it.

While Sarah-Jane never discussed her problems at home with her schoolfriends, there were signs that all was not well. McMullen recalls a "Family Tree" assignment at school, whereby the class were asked to draw their family units and Sarah-Jane broke down crying and left the classroom. Other times, when Lee Ford would collect Sarah-Jane from school, McMullen states Sarah-Janes demeanour completely changed when she saw him.

In early summer 2000, Lesley revealed to her brother, Peter, that she suspected Lee was sexually abusing her two eldest daughters. Peter found a place for Lesley and her six children in a woman's refuge but Lesley changed her mind and stayed with Lee Ford. Peter cut off contact with his sister from this moment on.

It later emerged that Lesley had in fact been trying to separate from Lee. She and eldest daughter, Sarah-Jane, had been to a solicitor and made statements against Lee and were in the process of getting a court order to remove Lee from the house and their lives. Sarah-Jane told the solicitor that Lee had been sexually abusing her.

Michael Tranter managed to track down Sarah-Jane at her workplace, a McDonalds in Falmouth. He called the restaurant and spoke to his daughter, for the first time in several years, for a matter of minutes before Sarah-Jane had to go back to work. This was the last time Michael Tranter spoke to his daughter.

### Disappearance

At the end of August 2000, Lesley Ford disappeared with her four eldest children. For four weeks, Lee Ford told everyone who asked that Lesley had left him with the four children but that her two youngest children, Lee's biological children, were still living with him. This did not ring true with Lesley's family as none of them believed she would leave two of her children behind.

Peter called the police in Cornwall to report his sister, nieces and nephews missing, telling them that he suspected Lee Ford had killed them. The police went round to Lee and Lesley's house to talk to Lee, who maintained that Lesley had upped and left him. With no trace of where the family had gone, the Cornish police very quickly became concerned for their welfare.

### Murder

On 30 August 2000, Lee and Lesley had some form of verbal argument which, as it usually did, escalated into physical violence towards Lesley. Lee claims he beat Lesley with a rounders bat in their bedroom before making her a cup of tea and bringing her some painkillers. Lee then went out into the garage in an attempt to calm down and spotted a rope on the floor. He picked it up, went back into the house and strangled Lesley to death.

Over the next 24 hours, Lee Ford claims he killed his four step-children one by one with the same rope in the kitchen. Lee wrapped the bodies in sheets, covered them in lime and buried them in the woodshed at the bottom of the garden. Weeks later he moved the bodies of Sarah Jane and Anne-Marie, re-burying them in a field four miles away.

The five bodies were found 4-5 October 2000.

### Trial

At his hearing, Lee Ford pleaded not guilty to the murders of his wife and step-children. His trial was set to begin on 24 May 2001, the police and prosecution continued to build a robust case against Lee Ford. However, on the morning of the trial, Lee changed his plea to guilty. The police suspect this avoided more details of the murder coming out into the public domain. Lee Ford has never given the full facts of what happened on the 30 August 2000.

### Sentencing

Lee Ford was given five life sentences, one for each of the killings. He was given a minimum of 27 years before consideration of parole.
He is currently serving his sentence at HMP Durham. He will be eligible for parole in 2027.

### Aftermath

More than two decades on, the family and friends of Lesley and her four eldest children are still haunted by guilt. Michael Tranter publicly states that he feels he failed his children, wishing he did more for them.

A petition was started in 2021, urging the government to disallow Lee Ford from appealing to the parole board in 2027.

## News

*For news articles on Sarah-Jane Tranter, see here.*

## In popular media

### Television

* Britain's Darkest Taboos - *Five Murders, One Family... One Killer* (28 November 2012)
* Deadliest Mums & Dads - *The Killer Stepdad* (27 November 2021)

## Other Victims of Lee Ford

* Lesley Ford
* Anne-Marie Tranter
* Steven Tranter
* Craig Tranter