Bill Hicks death quote found in bag of murder weapons weeks before Gracie Spinks death, inquest hears

The quote was printed on three “leaflets” found in a bag of weapons by a member the public out walking her dogs on May 6, 2021, just five weeks before Gracie was stabbed to death by “obsessed” stalker Sellers.

A jury at an inquest into Gracie’s death heard today that late American comedian Bill Hicks had included the quote in a letter after he discovered he had terminal cancer.

It read: “I left in love, in laughter, and in truth, and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit”.

Barriester Narita Bahra KC, representing Gracie’s family, and questioning Detective Constable Constable Denise Sandall about the circumstances surrounding Gracie’s death, said: “If someone wanted to find out what that quote meant it doesn’t take long to find out.”

DC Sandall replied “no”.

On March 11, 2021, Sellers went online and ordered three knives including a Cold Steel Recon knife and a utility knife, spending £375 in total on the blades.

Two months later on May 6 Anna White, a member of the public out walking her dogs, found a brown rucksack on a farm track near Blue Lodge Farm in Duckmanton where Gracie was stabbed to death on June 18 the same year.

The bag contained two large, sheathed hunting knives, a smaller folding knife, an axe, some jogging bottoms, a water bottle with the words “nothing worth having comes easy” written on it, a blister pack of viagra and a note reading “don’t lie!”.

Finding the bag, Ms White called 101, telling a call handler: “I’ve found a bag and I’m quite concerned about what I’ve found.

"It’s got weapons in it – it’s down a farm track, it was on the grass in the opening to one of the fields.

"It was the piece of paper that said ‘don’t lie’ that made me say ‘oh my god’."

The court heard on the same day Anna White discovered the brown rucksack Sellers spent another £471 in online knife purchases, including several large hunting knives.

Giving evidence today (Monday) Detective Constable Sandall confirmed that a Marks and Spencer receipt found on the brown rucksack on May 6 was found to have been produced during a purchase paid for using Seller’s father’s bank card at a Sheffield branch on April 29 at 4.16pm.

She agreed that anyone investigating the receipt could “potentially” have requested CCTV from the store and identified Seller’s father, linking Michael Sellers with the receipt.

Jurors heard how on the day of Gracie’s death a man was seen running away from the stables with a “cardboard box over his head”.

Sellers’ body was found 150 metres away with two folding knives in his tracksuit bottoms.

At the stables police found another bag containing a piece of rope, duct tape, bin bags, sunglasses similar to the ones Seller had been seen in the previous day and a small can of beer.

A Greggs coffee cup was also found in the location where it is believed Sellers waited for Gracie to arrive at the stables on the morning of her death.

The inquest at Chesterfield Coroners Court continues.