Emma Borowy: Woman, 32, appears at court charged with murder of 74-year-old Roger Leadbeater in Sheffield

A woman is due in court accused of the murder of Roger Leadbeater, the 74-year-old who was stabbed to death while walking his dog in Sheffield.

Emma Borowy was charged over the weekend with murder and appeared at Sheffield Magistrates' Court on Saturday, August 12. The court today confirmed the 32-year-old, of Fearnhead Close in Bolton, had been remanded in custody to appear at Sheffield Crown Court tomorrow, Tuesday, August 15.

Mr Leadbeater was fatally stabbed while walking his beloved springer spaniel, Max, last Wednesday, August 9. Emergency services were called shortly before 11pm that evening to an area of parkland off Shortbrook Close, in Westfield, Sheffield, and he was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

His family described how Max had stayed by his side as he lay dying. They said Mr Leadbeater was a 'doting' family man and a 'kind, gentle soul', and they told how how he had still been working forSheffield City Council, driving children with special needs to school.

Four murder inquiries in one week

The murder inquiry was one of four launched by South Yorkshire Police in the space of a week.

A 53-year-old woman was stabbed to death in Sprotbrough, Doncaster, on Saturday, August 5, and a man, aged 28, was fatally stabbed in Barnsley town centre on Wednesday, August 9.

A 60-year-old man died on Friday, August 11, two days after being found at a property in Woodseats, Sheffield with a head injury. None of the incidents is believed to be linked.