Chilling text ambulance worker sent after she tried to kill boss with hammer

A disgruntled employee sent a chilling text to a friend after repeatedly striking her boss in the head with a hammer.

Ambulance worker Stacey Smith, lay in wait with the weapon for manager Michala Morton, outside the victim’s home, to attack her over petty work issues.

When Ms Morton emerged from her house in Dukinfield, Tameside, Manchester, to go to work, Smith pounced. CCTV footage showed her hitting her again and again on the head, arms, legs and torso with the hammer.

Ms Morton suffered a fractured wrist and a head injury after being hit as she raised her arms to protect herself, a court heard. She eventually dropped the weapon in the street and drove off, texting a friend: “I’ve done it. I’ve smashed her head in. Oppsie xx!”

After being charged, she was found guilty of attempted murder following a trial at Manchester Crown Square that concluded earlier this month.

Yesterday (October 29), she was handed a 25-year extended sentence after a judge ruled she should be considered a dangerous offender amid an ongoing risk to the public.

She was handed a 20 year jail term of which she must serve at least two-thirds before she can be considered for parole. That is in addition to an extended licence period of five years.

Smith, who has dyed pink hair, showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down. Judge Hilary Manley said Smith had “long held a grudge” towards Ms Morton and had gone to her home “in order to ambush her.”

She said the effect on her victim, both physically and psychologically, had been “profound and far-reaching.” She said Smith had “been building up to this” and had “feelings of resentment and frustration over shift patterns.”

She said: “I detect very little remorse, in fact it seems you feel you were justified in your actions, or at least driven to it. This was a pre-meditated offence with planning. I do accept you have suffered some mental difficulties.”

The trial had heard that the attack came after Smith had harboured ‘resentment and hatred’ towards Ms Morton, an operations manager for North West Ambulance Service (NWAS). Ms Morton began to manage Ms Smith, an ambulance care assistant, in 2017.

She also managed Ms Smith’s wife, another NWAS worker.

Ms Bennett said: “On first impression, Ms Morton found Ms Smith to be a pleasant person, and even a potential friend. Their relationship deteriorated however around the time of Covid 19 and the pandemic.

“There was a need for drastic changes to the way NWAS worked. An argument ensued about shift patterns. Stacey Smith filed a formal grievance. The crux of the issue was Stacey Smith and her wife wished to work together and share non-working days.

“Allowances were made and it seemed as though the matter was at an end, but then the issue of shift patterns arose again.” Smith’s trial heard that the issue went on for ‘several months’.

Ms Bennett claimed Smith and her wife’s inability to attend the funeral of a regular patient in July 2022 ‘fed the resentment’, after they were told they had to work so couldn’t make it. That evening Smith began ‘abusing’ Ms Morton on Facebook and said ‘she would never let this go’, the jury heard.

Ms Morton was sent screenshots of the posts and reported them to NWAS. She asked that Smith and her wife be removed from her team, but the request was denied.

An investigation was launched and it was decided that Smith and her wife would be ‘separated’, and prevented from working together to ‘minimise the impact of their interviews’ on the service provided by NWAS. Smith was said to be ‘furious’ about the decision.

Ms Bennett said that ‘concerns arose’ surrounding Smith’s mental health, and ‘safeguarding action’ was taken so that she would be put on sick leave. A report by occupational health reported ‘no concerns’ regarding Smith’s mental health.

Smith and her wife remained absent from work for six months, and when they returned they re-joined Ms Morton’s team. Ms Morton again asked for them to be removed from her team, but the request was denied. In November last year, Smith went away on a trip to Cumbria with other NWAS staff, including her wife.

After they returned, Smith’s wife told her that ‘she could not cope with Ms Morton anymore,’ and said she was ‘going to end her own life’. Smith called a friend and told her what her wife had said. She was said to have told her that ‘she could not have this’, and ‘blamed Ms Morton’.

“She wanted the situation to be resolved,” Ms Bennett said. Smith raised a complaint with NWAS and said ‘she felt that she and her wife were being targeted’. Ms Morton declined to speak with her due to the ongoing issues.

Smith was due to be spoken to by NWAS’ HR department. But days before that, she turned up at Ms Morton’s home and attacked her.

Smith called a friend from the scene, telling her that she was outside Ms Morton’s home and “couldn’t take it anymore,” before the attack at about 5.30am on November 11.

Smith, of Ascot Road, Newton Heath, was assessed by psychiatrists and spoke to them about the incident. Ms Bennett told the jury: “She [Smith] was very candid about her intent to kill Ms Morton, and how she wished she had.”