A dogsitting TikToker who stabbed a man to death because he let her Pomeranian escape went a drugs binge ‘five minutes’ before the killing, a court heard.
Winter Swan-Miller, 37, is accused of murdering 62-year-old Stuart Crocker 26 times after he let her therapy dog, Oblivion, escape – before her pet was then stolen.
Mr Crocker’s body was found five days later surrounded by notes that read ‘take my f***ing dog you w***e. This is why I’ve done this haha’.
Tattooed Swan-Miller later bragged about being a ‘bad girl’ and said ‘but I don’t feel like I’ve done a bad thing at all’ in a TikTok video after Mr Crocker’s death before then going on the run, prosecutors said.
Giving evidence at her murder trial in Winchester Crown Court, Swan-Miller admitted she had taken heroin and crack cocaine ‘five minutes before’ the alleged killing.
The defendant, who denies murder, told jurors she had used drugs to ‘escape’ after the death of her mother in November 2022 and claimed she relied on animals for support.
‘Dogs are my whole world,’ she told the court. ‘I love animals.’
Mr Crocker’s body was found in his flat in Andover, Hampshire, on June 28 last year. He had been stabbed 26 times.
His body was ‘surrounded by notes’ of confessions which were written by Swan-Miller and left as a ‘trail’ for the ‘pigs’ to follow, the court heard.
‘How does his death feel haha. You thought I would let you get away with taking me for a f***ing mug. Taking my dog, are you real,’ one note said, jurors were told.
Opening the trial, Nicola Shannon KC said police believe Mr Crocker died five days before his body was found.
‘They didn’t find out about it, however, until five days later because it was at 11.58am on the 28th of June that emergency services received a phone call from a neighbour of Mr Crocker’s,’ Ms Shannon added.
The neighbour reported a foul smell to police which he compared to a ‘damp carpet’.
Mr Crocker was also ‘surrounded by notes’ which had been written by Swan-Miller and ‘were made to be discovered’
Ms Shannon KC said they were part of ‘a trail she left for pigs, in her words, to follow’.
One note read: ‘Take my f***ing dog you w***e. This is why I’ve done this haha.
‘How does his death feel haha. You thought I would let you get away with taking me for a f***ing mug. Taking my dog, are you real.’
The jurors were also shown a number of TikToks, organised into parts, which were posted on June 23, last year.
In one video, titled ‘Part Two’, Swan-Miller can be heard saying: ‘Taking my dog from me, the only thing in the entire world that I’ve got.
‘I did do what I did and I did it because I had no choice. They took away the only thing in my life that I have got, and that’s my dog Oblivion.’
She added: ‘You took away my dog, you all did this.’
And in another, she said: ‘I swore if anyone hurt my dog I would never let it go.
‘I did it as a f***ing statement my morals let me do it.’
In another, she said: ‘I’m going to be taking a break from TikTok for a bit I think because I’ve been a bad girl.
‘But I don’t feel like I’ve done a bad thing at all.’
The court was also shown a letter that Swan-Miller sent to a friend in which she said ‘I killed Stewart’.
It read: ‘He f***ing let my dog out and Kelly Smith stole him so I stabbed him.’
The prosecutor said: ‘She regularly makes reference to her expectation that she was going to prison.’
Ms Shannon KC said after stabbing Mr Crocker 26 times, the dog owner walked into Andover town centre and went to McDonald’s for a sausage and egg McMuffin meal.
‘Throughout the morning, it would seem she was prepared for potential arrest,’ the prosecutor said.
‘Firstly she was making careful preparations and sorted out her domestic affairs, and secondly she was hoping for some degree of fame and notoriety for what she had done.’
Witnesses who spoke to Swan-Miller that morning described her as ‘cheerful’ and ‘laid back’ – and she even told one woman said she could take her dog, Oblivion, as she was going to prison.
Swan-Miller then left her phone in a local pub and ‘went on the run’ to Birmingham.
Jurors were told she asked a friend if she could stay with him to which he said he could not, but suggested she spoke to Edward Jones, 44.
‘Mr Jones did allow her to stay and it appears that very quickly they entered into an intimate relationship,’ Ms Shannon KC said.
After police found Mr Crocker’s body, the pair were eventually arrested on Friday June, 30 and Swan-Miller has remained in custody since.
Swan-Miller pleaded not guilty to murder and two counts of fraud.
Jones pleaded not guilty to assisting an offender, and to one count of fraud.
The trial continues.