Sadik gets six years

Sharon Sadik, 39, remained emotionless as she was jailed for the attempted murder of Marjorie Binner. Sadik stabbed the elderly spinster with a bread knife as she lay in bed at her Undercliffe home.

Miss Binner, 78, who survived the brutal attack, today revealed she believed her neighbour tried to murder her to benefit from her will.

Miss Binner said: "She thought that having done so much for me I might leave her something in my will.

"I trusted her implicitly and she betrayed that trust."

A jury of seven men and five women took just over two hours to reach a unanimous verdict yesterday - a year to the day after the attack.

Sentencing Sadik today High Court Judge Mr Justice Longmore described it as an "unprovoked and apparently motiveless attack".

He said he would have sentenced Sadik to nine years but for the fact that she had telephoned the emergency services and had a loving relationship with her two young children.

He said there was no explanation for Sadik's actions as she had had a long and caring relationship with Miss Binner.

In mitigation Graham Hyland QC said that Sadik had had an unhappy life and had suffered from depression and alcohol problems.

He said that her actions on the day of the stabbing were inexplicable and untypical of her usual character.

During the four-day trial, Leeds Crown Court heard that Miss Binner, who lived alone, had awoken late in the evening of October 8 last year to find Sadik stabbing her with a knife while wearing a bag over her head.

Miss Binner suffered deep cuts to her abdomen and breast before Sadik stopped and called for an ambulance.

Sadik had claimed she had tried to help her commit suicide after Miss Binner had called her on an intercom link between their houses sounding distressed.

Miss Binner had been unable to present her evidence to the court and the jury had been read a written statement - which said she had never contemplated suicide.

Mr Justice Longmore said it was impossible to know if Miss Binner would stand by her statement if cross-examined in court.

Miss Binner had told police she had been woken by Sadik who was sitting over her on her bed.

As Sadik plunged the knife into her the bag covering Sadik's head fell off.

Following the attack Sadik had told both her husband and the emergency services she had stabbed her neighbour. And a pathologist told the court Miss Binner's wounds did not look self-inflicted.

During the day of the attack Sadik had told the court she had drunk two-thirds of a bottle of vodka and two glasses of red wine.

By finding Sadik guilty of attempted murder the jury dismissed alternative charges of wounding with intent and aiding and abetting suicide.

Detective Supt Brian Taylor welcomed the verdict. He said: "It was a complex set of circumstances unravelled thanks to the hard work of the team of detectives involved."

It's a miracle I'm alive today, says victim, 78

The well-kept Victorian terrace house where elderly spinster Marjorie Binner was born and lived all her life was also where she was almost brutally murdered in her bed.

There, her neighbour Sharon Sadik brutally tried to stab her to death in a psychopathic rage.

Miss Binner, 78, believed Sadik was her friend - a neighbour who would take care of her and talk to her when she was feeling lonely.

But greed got the better of Sadik, 39, who borrowed and stole thousands of pounds from Miss Binner and used her home in Bradford to drink in secret.

Sadik was also aware that the pensioner had been talking about drawing up a new will and, according to Miss Binner, believing she would be included, was ready to commit murder in an effort to get her hands on some money.

Miss Binner was a local ballet star in her youth. She is described by friends as kind and trustworthy. Following the death of her 96-year-old father, she was left alone in her large house. The knife attack on Miss Binner destroyed her life. From a lively pensioner she has turned into nervous woman who now lives in a nursing home.

"It's a miracle that I'm alive. I trusted that woman implicitly and she betrayed me," she said.

"I used to be afraid of nothing and nobody and now I'm afraid of everyone and everything."

Miss Binner was born in 1920. Her father, a local manufacturer and her mother, a teacher, gave her a strict Methodist upbringing.

She worked in the civil service as a secretary, but it was her love of ballet which ruled her life. She was a member of the Royal Association of Dancing and performed at the Alhambra.

Her zest for life continued throughout her later years and up until the attack was still enjoying herself to the full. But the night of October 8 last year changed Miss Binner's life.

"She had been round as normal to see me to bed and kissed me goodnight," she said. "She then left the house and about ten minutes later I was dozing and I felt a weight on my stomach.

"When I opened my eyes she was laid beside me with a plastic bag on her head and she pulled out a long carving knife."

Miss Binner suffered stab wounds to her stomach, groin, breast and hands. One wound needed 48 stitches. She spent ten weeks in hospital, including a fortnight in the intensive-care unit.

Sadik's obsession with Marjorie's life

Cath Thomas was one of Miss Binner's closest friends - but she severed that friendship when Sharon Sadik became obsessed with controlling the elderly spinster's life.

A two-way intercom was installed between the two homes so that Sadik could track every visitor.

Mrs Thomas said: "You only had to be in the house two minutes and that Sadik woman would come round. She was obsessed with Marjorie.

"I loathe Sadik. She has told lie after lie to the police and in court. There is no way that Marjorie wanted to commit suicide, no way at all."

Mrs Thomas, 68, of Bolton, Bradford, and Miss Binner were friends for more than 20 years, enjoying trips out for lunch and reminiscing about old times.

"It made me feel sick how that woman used to come round and call Marjorie 'mum'," said Mrs Thomas. "When Marjorie had to spend some time in a nursing home, Sadik even told staff she was her daughter.

"Marjorie lost most of her friends because they couldn't stand Sadik. I could not stomach the woman."

Sadik rarely spoke about her past to people she came in to contact with, although did talk occasionally about her three brothers and sisters and say she had been married before.

But inside the mysterious woman was an monster who ruined a friendship and nearly killed a defenceless pensioner.

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