A 23-year-old man has been charged with the murders of a woman and her teenage son, and the attempted murder of the boy’s father.

Aaron Barley, 23, was arrested following an incident in Stourbridge on Thursday, West Midlands Police said. Detectives had earlier confirmed the suspect was known to the family but was not a relative - he is believed to have been taken in by the family over Christmas.

Peter Wilkinson, his wife Tracey, 50, and their 13-year-old son Pierce were subjected to the knife attack on Thursday morning. 

Tracey, who had worked at a rehab centre supporting people with drug and alcohol problems, was pronounced dead inside the detached property on Greyhound Lane, and Pierce later died in hospital. 

47-year-old Peter remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital. His daughter, Bristol University student Lydia Wilkinson, 18, was not at the property at the time of the attack and is being comforted by relatives.

A Land Drover stolen from outside the home was intercepted by police around half an hour after the attack and a man in his 20s was arrested. 

Regulars at their local pub, the New Inn, described the couple as “very charitable” and said they had taken in a homeless man in December. One local, who didn’t want to be named, said: 

“They were a lovely family, it is just awful what’s happened. 

“They had two children who were a credit to them. They were well known and liked by everyone. No-one had a bad word to say about them. 

"They had taken in a homeless person around Christmas time. They were a very charitable couple, it doesn’t surprise me at all that they would open up their home to somebody in need and provide them with a roof over their head."

Local Tory councillor Colin Elcock added:

“I came down because I heard something terrible had happened from a colleague, but it wasn’t until I got here that I realised how terrible. 

“I had only been with Tracey last week at a ward meeting where she was, as always, very supportive of me. They were a lovely couple. Peter was a businessman, and used to travel a lot to the USA and Europe with his job. 

“But both he and Tracey helped me deliver pamphlets for the Mayoral elections.”