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How drug abuser preyed on artist’s kindness before callous killing

Murder victim Peter Flux and his killer Faye Burford could hardly have come from more different worlds – but ended up living in the same house.

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Faye Burford, left, murdered her neighbour Peter Flux, right

Mr Flux had devoted much of his life to the study of Buddhism and was a potter, artist and poet.

He was a gentle man who was loved by his family and a pillar of the local Buddhist community.

He was 74 years old and had retired to his hometown of Torbay after working as an artist or teacher in Wales, but was still an active painter.

Police photos of his ground floor flat in the Edwardian villa named Palm Dene in Midvale Road, in Paignton, showed it full of the canvases he was working on.

His sister, Anne, described him as being: “Unlike anyone else I knew. He was kind, very intelligent, creative, flamboyant and a surrealist who saw the absurd in everything. He was still full of life with years ahead of him.”

Faye Burford, originally from West Bromwich, who was 41 at the time of the murder, had lived a very different life.

Her existence was scarred by childhood abuse which led her to seek refuge in drugs from the age of 13 onwards.

She was the youngest of three brothers and four sisters who grew up in West Bromwich.

She was abused at the age of 12 and responded by starting to use cannabis a year later. By the time she left school with no qualifications, she was on amphetamines and shortly afterwards she developed a cocaine habit – which was to blight and define the course of her adult life.

It led her first into petty crime and shoplifting, and then to carrying out a street robbery in 2001 which led to her being jailed for two years at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

The street mugging was carefully planned with a friend pretending to be seriously ill as a ploy to ask for help from a passer-by who was then attacked and robbed.

She moved to Wales when she was in her 20s and worked for about eight years as a prostitute.

Detectives and police officers at the scene in Paignton

This period of her life ended when she went into drug rehabilitation on 2009, getting off cocaine for a short time.

She started writing poetry as a form of therapy during this time and her writings reflect both her confused mental state and her interest in murder.

Her poem, entitled What is Wrong with this World? seems to refer to the killing of someone she knew.

A second poem, one of eight on the Poem Hunter site, dealt with her attempts to overcome her inner demons.

Burford moved to Devon after leaving rehab because her mother had moved there from the Midlands.

She managed to keep her drug taking under control for several years but fell back into addiction some time before the killing.

She moved into Palm Dene about three years ago and met Mr Flux as a neighbour, occasionally visiting him and looking at the paintings he was working on.

Their friendship led to her borrowing small amounts of money from him to help her cope with her dire financial state.

By the time of the murder, she was thousands of pounds in debt.

She had searches on her phone for payday loan companies and contacts for debt advice centres and was so desperate for cash that she sold her landlord’s cooker, telling him it had broken down and she had taken it to the tip.

The stabbing happened when she went back to borrow more money and he refused because she had not repaid his last loan.

She stabbed Mr Flux in the face and neck on February 23, because he refused to lend her £20 to buy drugs and left his body on his bed, while she took his wallet and passport.

Burford, who was high on cocaine at the time and was still wearing pyjamas and a dressing gown, picked up a knife and stabbed him when he refused to lend her more money.

He struggled to defend himself and suffered knife wounds to his hands and arms as well as the fatal injury to his neck, which cut the carotid artery.

His body was found four days later.

The murder weapon, empty wallet and her bloodstained clothes were found in bins outside the house.

She pleaded guilty to murder and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years and one month at Exeter Crown Court.

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