Jane Lee (51) was stabbed to death by her estranged husband, Robert Lee (51). Lee had been released on bail for an earlier strangulation attack on Mrs Lee. Robert Lee has been sentenced to Life imprisonment, with a minimum of 19 years. Lee had a history of being violent towards previous partners, and serious questions should be raised as to why the legal system would release such a violent man after the earlier attack.

Mail on Sunday (13 May 2008 )

Husband stabbed wife to death just weeks after getting bail for trying to strangle her
By Chris Brooke

A man murdered his wife just weeks after being arrested for trying to strangle her and being freed on bail by magistrates.

The prosecution wanted Robert Lee, 51, kept in custody for the alleged attempt to kill her, but he was released by the court and six weeks later stabbed his wife Jane to death in a frenzied street attack.

The shocking failure to protect the innocent mother-of-two was revealed at Sheffield Crown Court as Lee was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 19 years before being considered for parole.

Lee, who had a record of assaulting his partners in drink-fuelled attacks, could have been locked up when he throttled his 51-year-old wife, but the authorities didn’t take the incident seriously enough.

Lee straddled his wife in the bedroom, put his hands around her neck and told her “I will f****** kill you” before she lost consciousness.

Neighbours, alerted by her screams, called police and officers knocked on the door as she came to.

But bizarrely they arrested her instead of him, believing she was drunk and could commit a breach of the peace, the court heard. In reality she was also suffering from the effects of the attack.

Mrs Lee went outside for fresh air and was seen “staggering” around in the back garden. She was “agitated” and told police she had “dreamt” she had woken up after her husband had strangled her.

Mrs Lee was locked in police cells until the custody officer noticed signs of strangulation and she was taken to hospital.

The casualty doctor said the marks on her neck were the worst symptoms of strangulation she had seen in 12 years.

Lee was arrested. He denied strangling her and said he acted in self defence after she attacked him, but he was charged with grievous bodily harm with intent and kept in custody.

However, two days later his solicitor persuaded magistrates it was safe to let him out pending trial. It was a tragic mistake.

Lee was forbidden under the terms of his bail from contacting his wife. But on 30 November last year he lay in wait for her outside a house where she worked as a cleaner.

Nicholas Campbell, QC, prosecuting, told the court he armed himself with a baseball bat and two knives.

She saw him approaching as she went to get into her car, but he grabbed her as she ran away and “frogmarched” her down the street.

Annette Eaden, a passer-by pushing her grandson in a pram, saw Lee hitting her with the bat and “had the courage to intervene”, telling him: “Don’t do that to her.”

Mr Campbell said Lee lied by telling her he had caught his wife in bed with another man. Meanwhile, his wife was screaming “please don’t do this Bob.”

Lee threatened Mrs Eaden with his knife when she tried to dial 999 and she ran away. Moments later she watched from behind a hedge as Lee repeatedly stabbed his wife. He took her keys and fled in her car.

By the time help arrived Mrs Lee was already dead.

Lee travelled 50 miles to Grimsby and was arrested several days later in her car.

Mr Campbell said the twice-married defendant who worked as a handyman had five children from earlier relationships.

Explaining his history of violence he said the relationship with his previous partner “ended violently” when he was convicted in December 2004 of common assault.

The court heard he grabbed his girlfriend around the throat and “squeezed”, as well as grabbing her by the arm.

Lee met his second wife Jane Gracie in November 2005.

They were both single and the following Spring he moved in to her house in Locke Street, Barnsley.

The relationship hit problems due to his heavy drinking and she asked him to leave. The court heard in December 2006 Lee tried to get back into the house by drilling open the front door and was arrested.

The couple sorted out their problems and married the following February, before his drinking again drove them apart, said Mr Campbell.

In one incident he “took a hammer to their wedding rings and squeezed them with a pair of pliers.”

In May Lee twice grabbed his wife’s arm and threatened her. She had the locks changed and police arrested him after he tried to force his way inside.

In a statement at the time Mrs Lee said: “I feel scared and nervous. I have been a strong woman but it’s knocking my confidence.

“His increasing behaviour has made me worried what will happen if he drinks and flips again.”

In July when the case came to magistrates court Mrs Lee refused to give evidence about the assault and Lee was only fined for criminal damage.

A further “reconciliation” followed, before the rows began again in the run up to the “strangulation” incident on 20 October.

Two days later he was bailed by magistrates and on 29 October Lee allegedly broke the terms of his bail by phoning his wife at home.

However, the judge was not told of the alleged breach when he extended Lee’s bail at Sheffield Crown Court the next day.

By the time of the murder, Mrs Lee had decided there was no possibility of them getting back together and was starting a new life, the court heard.

Lee was due to stand trial for murder and attempted murder, but pleaded guilty to both offences at the 11th hour after the lesser charge was reduced to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Judge Alan Goldsack said committing the murder whilst on bail was an “aggravating” feature, but he said the decision by magistrates to release Lee was ‘understandable’ given the information they had at the time.

The judge said the prosecution had “untested” evidence that Lee had a “history of attempting to strangle his former partners.”

Outside court Detective Superintendent Martin Bates said: “I can only describe the crime as an execution and a public one at that. The murder of Jane Lee was a brutal and dreadful act.

“It was an horrific crime and a horrific scene.”

The victim’s grown-up son Carl Gracie said: “Never has the word devastated been more fitting, why anyone would want to harm her beggars belief.”

Robert Lee, Life with a minimum 19 years

21 year old waitress Monika Szmecht was stabbed, set alight, and stabbed again by jealous ex-boyfriend Anthony Clarke (27). Before succumbing to her fatal injuries, Ms Szmecht managed to crawl 150 yards to a nearby cottage and name her attacker. Two other men were involved in Ms Szmecht’s kidnap and murder, both pled to lesser charges as the trial began. Clarke’s best friend, Philip Savin (29), helped to abduct Ms Szmecht, and along with Clarke’s uncle, David Clarke (46), both obstructed the murder investigation and disposed of evidence, both receiving very light sentences for their involvement (particularly Savin, who was on the run for a £26,000 theft from a lorry. Anthony Clarke has been jailed for a minimum 25 years. Clarke’s jealousy was completely unfounded.

The Times Online (02 May 2008 )

Stabbed and set on fire, woman lived just long enough to identify killer
Russell Jenkins

A jealous ex-boyfriend is expected to be jailed for life today for the kidnap, torture and murder of a young Polish waitress. Monika Szmecht had hoped to make a new life in Britain but died at the hands of Anthony Clarke.

Clarke, 27, had kept her caged in the back of his van for four hours before driving to a remote spot, where he stabbed her repeatedly, doused her with petrol and set her alight. Miss Szmecht, 21, managed to crawl 150 yards along a country lane in Rainford, Merseyside, to summon help from the occupants of a cottage. Before dying, she told paramedics that her boyfriend had attacked her.

Clarke, owner of a taxi company, from West Derby, Liverpool, was found guilty at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday of murder. The former soldier remained impassive in the dock when the verdict was delivered by the jury but turned to wink at the mother of his three children who was sobbing in the public gallery.

Kaline Adamska, the sister of Miss Szmecht, hugged the police liaison officer sitting beside her. The jury had been told that Clarke had been violent towards Miss Szmecht during their year-long relationship and she had reported him to police. Andrew Menary, QC, for the prosecution, said that Clarke had ended the relationship and had asked her to leave the home they shared. Although the relationship was at an end he remained jealous of her friendships with other men and refused to allow her to see them.

Mr Menary told the jury it was in that atmosphere that Miss Szmecht made a naive and “out of character” blackmail attempt. She is said to have demanded £1,000 from Clarke to withdraw a police statement about how he had broken a bone in her hand and threatened to burn down her flat.

Clarke had told her he would pay the money and they agreed to meet near her new home in the Croxteth area of the city on June 11 last year. Instead, Clarke forced her into his van, locked her inside a cage in the back and left her inside for four hours with the car alarm sounding while it was parked at his garage business. He later drove her to Blindfoot Road, near the village of Rainford, St Helens.

Clarke was originally charged with murder alongside his uncle, David Clarke, 46, of Walton, Liverpool, and friend Philip Savin, 29, of Bootle. On the day the trial was due to begin, Savin and David Clarke agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges and give evidence for the prosecution.

Savin described how Anthony Clarke became increasingly angry that Ms Szmecht, who worked in the Bar Italia restaurant in Liverpool city centre, was receiving text messages from a man. It was established later that the man was not a new lover but her landlord.

Savin helped Clarke to force Ms Szmecht, who was originally from Kloda, near Leszno, Poland, into the van and terrified her by holding a container of petrol in front of her while she was trapped in the vehicle.

David Clarke, who is also a business partner of Anthony Clarke, told the court that his nephew confessed the murder to him the next day and it was he who arranged for all evidence of the hostage ordeal to be removed. He has pleaded guilty to assisting an offender and Savin pleaded guilty to kidnap, making threats and assisting an offender.

Clarke told the jury that the idea of blackmail must have come from the “gangster” boyfriend of Miss Szmecht.

Merseyside Police put armed officers around the court building for the verdict because Clarke was thought to have links with the criminal underworld of Liverpool.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Dale, who led the investigation, said: “Monika … agreed to meet with Clarke on the afternoon of June 11. We do not know exactly what happened to her after that, until she turned up, seeking help in Blindfoot Road at 9pm, brutally stabbed and set alight. It was a truly brutal and tragic end to a young life.”

The Daily Mail (03 May 2008 )

Jailed for life: Man who stabbed and set his girlfriend on fire but was caught out by her dying accusation

A former soldier has been jailed for a minimum of 25 years for the murder of his ex-girlfriend whom he kidnapped, set on fire and stabbed.

Jealous Anthony Clarke forced Monika Szmecht, 21, into a cage in his van where she was held for four hours.

He then drove her to a country lane in Merseyside where she was stabbed six times and set alight.

When she remained alive, Clarke resumed the stabbing frenzy before she was left for dead.

But Ms Szmecht, a waitress originally from Kloda, near Leszno, Poland, managed to crawl to a house for help and named her killer to paramedics in the moments before she died.

Clarke, a businessman on the fringes of Liverpool’s criminal underworld, had denied murder but was convicted by a unanimous jury of 11 at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday.

As he stood in the dock today, it was clear he had suffered severe injuries overnight. He had two black eyes and large cuts and swelling along the left side of his neck.

Mr Justice Teare jailed him for life with a minimum term of 25 years.

The judge told Clarke: “Nobody who listened to the evidence of how Monika died will fail to be horrified.

“This murder began by you kidnapping Monika and keeping her captive for almost four hours.

“You drove her out to an isolated spot. You stabbed her six times and you set her alight with the aid of a petrol can and when you saw she was still moving, you stabbed her further.

“Despite her extreme suffering she somehow walked, or perhaps staggered, to a nearby house where she collapsed, naked and smouldering.

“And she identified you as her attacker to those who came to her aid.”

The judge added: “It is difficult to imagine the enormity of the physical and mental suffering you inflicted on Monika.

“It must have been extreme.”

Because of Clarke’s underworld links, Judge Teare had agreed to allow armed police officers to manage security around the court building and courtroom.

Outside court, Ms Szmecht’s sister, Kalina Adamska, made a brief statement saying: “Monika was a happy person, very smiley and with a beautiful face.

“He (Clarke) is not a human, he is a beast.

“I never want him to leave jail but I am pleased with the sentence.”

Also jailed today was Clarke’s uncle, David Clarke, 46, of Walton Village, Liverpool, and best friend Philip Savin, 29, of Chester Avenue, Bootle, Merseyside.

They were originally charged with murder alongside Clarke but, on the day the trial was due to start, they pleaded guilty to lesser charges and gave evidence for the case against the murderer.

David Clarke was jailed for two years for assisting an offender. The court heard that he helped his nephew dispose of evidence and obstructed the police inquiry into Ms Szmecht’s death.

Because of time served on remand, he will be released in around five months.

Savin, also a former soldier, was jailed for four-and-a-half years for helping his friend kidnap Ms Szmecht and attempting to destroy evidence.

The court was told that when Ms Szmecht was murdered last June, Savin was on the run following the theft of a lorry containing £26,000 worth of soap.

He was jailed for a further 18 months for that offence and told he must serve a minimum of three years. Judge Teare said that, while their evidence had assisted the prosecution, there had always been a powerful case against Clarke.

  Anthony Clarke (27), minimum 25 years

Mother of two daughters (ages 14 and 4) Tracey Grinhaff (42) was murdered by her husband, Gary Grinhaff who died shortly afterwards of self-inflicted injuries. Mrs Grinhaff was in the process of separating from her husband.

The Times Online (05 May 2008 )

Husband and wife dead after Facebook confession

Hannah Fletcher

A woman and her husband found dead near their home had been in the process of splitting up, it emerged yesterday.

Tracey Grinhaff, 42, was found in a shed in the back garden of the family’s home in Wombwell, South Yorkshire, on Friday morning. She had head injuries. An hour later, police discovered the body of her husband, Gary, in nearby woodland with self-inflicted head and facial injuries.

Although the officer leading the investigation, Detective Superintendent Richard Fewkes, insisted that police were keeping an “open mind”, one line of inquiry is believed to be that Mr Grinhaff, 41, killed his wife before taking his own life.

The couple had two daughters, aged 4 and 14, and were, according to their neighbour, Enid Hindley, a “wonderful, close, loving family”.

Despite this, Mrs Grinhaff wrote on her Facebook profile just two weeks before she died that she was “currently splitting” from her husband, an electrical engineer. She added: “Been married for 16 years but together for 26!!!! God that makes me sound old.”

One man who lived near the family said that he believed Mr Grinhaff had recently discovered that his wife had been having an affair with another man.

But he added: “They were a lovely family. We didn’t live in each other’s pockets but they were always so friendly.”

Julie Kendall, who became friends with Mrs Grinhaff at a local mothers-and-toddlers group four years ago, said: “I didn’t really know her husband. But I do think it’s true that they were splitting up.”

Reports circulated within the community that the couple’s daughters knocked on a neighbour’s door with a note that said something bad had happened to their parents.

Mrs Kendall, 38, said: “It would have been the four-year-old’s birthday on Saturday.”

She described her friend as “genuine, caring and kind”, adding: “There are probably a handful of people that you would meet like Tracey in one lifetime. You couldn’t fault her for anything.”

On her Facebook profile, Mrs Grinhaff listed her interests as “ballet, skiing (snow and water), and reading”. Her favourite television programme was CSI, her favourite books were “crimes and thrillers” and she described her favourite music as “anything I can dance to”.

At the top of the page was a holiday snap of her and her daughter, Neve, hugging in pink sun dresses.

Mrs Hindley, who lived two doors away from the Grinhaff family since they moved in more than 18 years ago, said: “It’s just devastating. Everybody’s talking about it. Everybody’s in a state of shock. It’s just one of those things that you would never expect.”

Other neighbours called them a “perfect, little family” with “two lovely girls”.

“Tracey and Gary were just wonderful parents,” one woman said. “You couldn’t wish for any better.”

Post-mortem examinations carried out on Saturday confirmed that Mrs Grinhaff died from head injuries and Mr Grinhaff from apparently self-inflicted injuries.

In a statement yesterday, South Yorkshire Police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.

Alison Lumsden (53) was stabbed over 30 times in her home by her husband, Christopher Lumsden (52).  Only five days before she was murdered, she told Lumsden she wished to end the marriage. Lumsden denied murder, but pled guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to five years. He is now out of jail, serving half the sentence including time spent awaiting trial. Lumsden was a managing partner at international law firm Pinsent Masons, but has since been disbarred. Alison Lumsden leaves behind two children, Thomas (20) and Kate (17).

The Telegraph (11 Feb 2006)

Lawyer jailed for killing wife tells of shame and remorse
By Nigel Bunyan

A lawyer who stabbed his wife to death five days after she told him she was having an affair made an emotional courtroom apology yesterday for what he described as “this appalling tragedy”.

Christopher Lumsden, 52, made his unusual intervention moments after he was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.

His imprisonment since the killing on March 16 last year means he will serve only 19 months of a five-year sentence.

Lumsden, formerly a managing partner in the international law firm Pinsent Masons, stabbed his wife, Alison, 53, more than 30 times with a kitchen knife.

He launched the “ferocious” attack in their Cheshire home after finding out that she wanted to leave him for a family friend. Afterwards he claimed to have virtually no recollection of the assault.

Yesterday Lumsden, who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in the summer before the killing, asked his barrister, Peter Birkett, QC, to withdraw his own mitigation speech so that he could address the court himself.

He thanked the judge for allowing him to remain seated. Reading from handwritten notes, he said he wanted to offer “a crumb of comfort” to his relatives and his wife’s family.

Lumsden, a father of two, spoke haltingly, his voice sometimes breaking with emotion. He said that for 25 years his wife’s family had offered him “love, kindness, good humour and support”. He admitted that they had been “horribly repaid”.

Lumsden, of Bowdon, near Altrincham, Cheshire, said his memory remained “a muddy pool” allowing only occasional glimpses below the surface.

He sought to explain why he had not broken down in the witness box while talking about “the ultimate tragedy”, but had done so while discussing his illness and the deaths of his parents.

“I say because the latter things are real. The tragedy itself remains for me both surreal and nightmarish. It is only when reality intervened during my cross-examination that it hit home. I am hoping it will hit home more often as – if I can – I recover.”

Lumsden, whose children, Thomas, 20, and Kate, 17, were in the public gallery, went on: “If there was anything I could do to atone for this appalling tragedy, or even reduce by the smallest amount the anguish, pain and suffering I have caused, I would do it.

“If there was anything I could say that expressed the depth of my shame, sorrow and remorse, I would say it.

“But there is nothing I can say. I can only apologise to the court, to everyone involved, to the two families, but most of all to my own children who have been incredible in the face of this appalling tragedy.”

Lumsden then struggled to his feet and gripped the side of the dock as Mr Justice Mitting passed sentence.

The judge told him his wife’s killing had indeed been a tragedy, but not one that was caused – as he had claimed – by her referring to him as a cripple. “I am sure she did not say that to you and your children should know she was blameless.

“This event occurred in significant part because of your depressive condition. But for that you would not have snapped as you did.”

Despite this, Lumsden retained “a substantial degree” of responsibility for his actions. “You knew when you picked up a knife and advanced towards your wife that you were going to plunge it into her.

“When she glimpsed you in the mirror you had the opportunity to turn back. You did not. You stabbed her with lethal intent. What occurred, therefore, was not just a tragedy but a crime, and a serious crime.”

The judge said it was to Lumsden’s credit that he had accepted criminal responsibility from the outset. He was therefore able to keep his sentence at “a moderate level”.

He believed the Parole Board was unlikely to delay his release beyond the half-way point of his sentence. The 11 months he had spent on remand would count towards his release.

The court heard that Lumsden had been diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy and doctors suggested that he might have only three years to live.

The couple moved into separate bedrooms and Lumsden, deeply affected by his mother’s death last January, began to shut himself off from their social life.

Mrs Lumsden continued to socialise alone and embarked on an affair with a family friend, Roger Flint, in the month before the killing.

She told her husband of the relationship on March 11. That evening she sent Mr Flint two text messages. One read in part: “It’s done. All calm and reasonable.”

Five days later Mrs Lumsden and Mr Flint had dinner in Plumley, then drove back to Bowdon separately, believing they were starting a new life together.

Minutes later she was lying dead on her bedroom floor.

The Telegraph (09 Apr 2008 )

Lawyer who killed wife may inherit £2m
By Richard Alleyne

A lawyer who killed his unfaithful wife has been freed after serving less than half of his jail sentence and could now inherit her £2 million fortune.

Christopher Lumsden, 55, was released on licence after serving only two years of a five-year sentence for stabbing his wife Alison to death after she admitted having an affair.

He was acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter after claiming he was suffering from an abnormality of the mind at the time of the killing.

Lumsden, who served his time in Sudbury Open Prison in Derbyshire, could now inherit the £1.4 million home in Bowdon, near Altrincham, Cheshire, where he carried out the attack. That would be in addition to the £1 million his 53-year-old wife left him in her will.

Sheila Hannam-Andrews, of Support After Murder and Manslaughter, a group for the relatives of people who have been killed, said: “The sentence is ridiculous and now it looks like he will benefit from everything.”

Lumsden, formerly a managing partner in the international law firm Pinsent Masons, stabbed the mother of his two children more than 30 times with a kitchen knife after she returned from a dinner date with her lover.

He launched the “ferocious” attack in their Cheshire home five days after finding out that she wanted to leave him for the family friend. Afterwards he claimed to have virtually no recollection of the assault.

In addressing the court during his trial, Lumsden said he wanted to offer “a crumb of comfort” to his relatives and his wife’s family. Watched by his children, Thomas, 20, and Kate, 17, in the public gallery, he went on: “If there was anything I could do to atone for this appalling tragedy, or even reduce by the smallest amount the anguish, pain and suffering I have caused, I would do it. If there was anything I could say that expressed the depth of my shame, sorrow and remorse, I would say it.”

He served only two years of his sentence because the 11 months he had spent in jail before the trial was taken into account. The court heard that, before the killing, Lumsden had been diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy and doctors suggested that he might have only three years to live.

The couple moved into separate bedrooms and Lumsden began to shut himself off from their social life. Mrs Lumsden continued to socialise alone and embarked on an affair with a family friend, Roger Flint, in the month before the killing.

Lumsden will remain “on licence” until March 2010, which means he is liable to be recalled to prison if he commits any other offence. He is not free to return to work as a lawyer because he was struck off while he was in jail.

Usually a person convicted of manslaughter cannot inherit from the person they have killed. In this case, it is likely the money will be placed in trust for Lumsden’s two children. Lumsden would have to apply to a court which has the power to make an exception and allow the inheritance depending on the circumstances of the case, for example if the killer suffered from a mental disorder at the time of the death.

   Christopher Lumsden (52), now free

Ryan Hawkins (4) was stabbed to death by his father, Christopher Hawkins (47). The fatal stabbing of Ryan, and attempted murder of his elder sister, Donna (14), was committed on the 17th wedding anniversary of his marriage to estranged-wife, Valerie Gee. Ms Gee had left the marriage in May of 2007. The revenge attack was pre-meditated, planned to occur on Ryan’s birthday. Hawkins was sentenced to 21 years.

The BBC (05 Mar 2008 )

Father jailed for murdering son

A man who murdered his four-year-old son and tried to kill his teenage daughter has been jailed for life and told he must serve 21 years.
Christopher Hawkins, 47, of Royd Street, Slaithwaite, Huddersfield, stabbed son Ryan to death last September, Leeds Crown Court heard.

He was also convicted of attempting to murder his daughter Donna, 14.

Mr Justice Wilkie said Hawkins had killed Ryan as “a cold-hearted vehicle to avenge his wife’s affair”.

The judge told Hawkins: “A more horrific crime it is hard to imagine than savagely and repeatedly to stab your young son who, in his agony, had to try to fend off blows from one of the people he was most entitled to expect love and affection.

“Although to this court, and after the event, you profess great love for Ryan and mourned his passing, in my judgment… these were crocodile tears.”

‘I love you’

Hawkins’s wife, Valerie Gee, said he “deserved everything he got” for murdering Ryan.

“No amount of time in prison will ever equal the pain and suffering we have got to go through every day without Ryan in our lives,” she said.

“He [Ryan] was a lively and loving child who would always be giving us hugs and kisses.

“I remember the last time I spoke to him I said ‘I love you’, and that’s what I will always remember.”

Judge Wilkie said he did not accept that Hawkins killed Ryan in a spontaneous attack.

“I’m satisfied that you used him [Ryan] cold-heartedly as a vehicle for avenging yourself on your wife.”

Hawkins and his wife had separated in May 2007.

The sheet metal worker later discovered that she had started an affair with taxi driver Lee Tinker, while they were still living together.

The day before the fatal attack would have been his and Miss Gee’s 17th wedding anniversary.

‘Moral courage’

But the judge went on to praise Donna, 14, who had suffered serious multiple wounds in the attack.

He said the teenager’s court appearance was in “stark contrast” to the performance of Hawkins, who he (the judge) accused of not having the “moral courage” to face up to what he did, instead blaming “something evil” inside him.

Donna suffered injuries to her face, chest, abdomen, arm and thigh. Two of the wounds had penetrated her liver and lung.

Hawkins had also “cut a chunk” out of his daughter’s right arm.

Judge Wilkie said: “I’m satisfied, but for the speed and skill of the doctors at the hospital, you would have faced two murder charges.”

The Guardian (06 mar 2008 )

Life for father who killed son as revenge on unfaithful wife
By Martin Wainwright

A father who murdered his four-year-old son in revenge for his wife’s affair was jailed for life yesterday after a jury refused to believe his claims of a fit of madness and voices in his head.

Christopher Hawkins called out “I love you, Donna” to his 14-year-old daughter, who survived multiple stab wounds in the same attack and managed to alert neighbours before collapsing in the street.

He was accused of faking grief over the tragedy in September at Slaithwaite, near Huddersfield, where he went for a beer at his local pub after the killing and told staff and customers what he had done.

Mr Justice Wilkie, setting a minimum 21-year term at Leeds crown court, told him: “You have not had the moral courage to face up to what you did, blaming instead something evil inside you.

“I am satisfied that you used your son cold-heartedly as a vehicle for avenging yourself on your wife. Although to this court, and after the event, you professed great love for Ryan and mourned his passing, in my judgment, having seen you give evidence and had the opportunity to assess your genuineness, these were crocodile tears.”

The court heard that Hawkins, 47, had stabbed Ryan with a carving knife nine times, twice penetrating his heart. The attack in the sheet metalworker’s terrace house, took place the day after the 17th anniversary of his marriage to Valerie Gee, who left him last May after telling him that she no longer loved him.

Hawkins was furious to discover soon afterwards that she had started an affair months earlier with a taxi driver, Lee Tinker, at a minicab firm owned by her uncle, where she worked on the callout desk.

The court heard that he had plotted revenge, scribbling a note that he would kill Ryan and himself on the child’s fourth birthday in September.

Instead, Hawkins first attacked Donna while her 16-year-old sister, Natalie, was out of the house and then told her that he was going to kill her brother.

“I am satisfied that but for the speed and skill of the doctors at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, you would have faced two murder charges,” the judge told Hawkins. He praised Donna for the calm way she gave evidence in the eight-day trial, in contrast to her father’s lies and evasions.

As he was escorted from the dock, Hawkins turned to face Donna and Natalie in the public gallery and said: “I love you, Donna, I love you, Natalie.” The children’s mother said in a victim statement to the court that Donna would never get over the psychological scars of the attack.

  Christopher Hawkins, sentenced to 21 years

After an argument with his wife Natasha Hogan, John Hogan (33) took his two children onto the balcony of the holiday hotel in Crete, then pushed them off before jumping himself. Liam (6) died from head injuries as a result of the fall. Mia (then 2) survived with broken bones, as did John Hogan.

Hogan was put on trial in Crete and cleared of murder in January 2008, and is set to return to the UK soon. His ex-wife Natasha, now remarried and known as Mrs Visser, has called the preceedings in Crete a miscarriage of justice. At the UK inquest into Liam’s death, several witnesses have testified to the events of that evening, recalling that Hogan pushed the two children off the balcony, then leapt himself.

In a disturbing report, the psychiatrist treating John Hogan said his ex-wife (Natasha Visser) should be thinking about her own part in the story instead of blaming him. This is a most outrageous and unjust bit of woman-blaming.

The Times Online (26 Mar 2008 )

Witnesses ‘saw death leap father John Hogan push children over balcony’

Three witnesses told an inquest today that they saw a man push two children from a Greek holiday hotel balcony then jump after them.

Liam Hogan, 6, from Bristol, died of severe head injuries after he and his father, John, and sister, Mia, then 2, fell 50ft from the fourth floor of the Petra Mare Hotel in Crete.

A Home Office pathologist who examined Liam’s embalmed body after it was flown back from Crete said that the child had suffered severe skull fractures.

John Hogan and Mia survived with broken limbs after the plunge on August 15, 2006.

Mr Hogan was acquitted of Liam’s murder by a Greek court in January, in a verdict that his estranged wife, Natasha Hogan, called a miscarriage of justice.

Earlier accounts of the tragedy had suggested that Mr Hogan jumped with his children in his arms, but at the inquiry into Liam’s eath, which opened in Bristol today, heard evidence that appeared to contradict this.

Kerry Jackman, who was waiting outside the hotel with some friends for a bus to take them to the airport, described how she had looked up at the noise of a row issuing from an upper bedroom.

“It was almost like a maniac shouting, in a rage almost. There was a muffled voice from the background,” Ms Jackman told the inquest.

“I said ’something awful is going on up there’. As I looked up I thought it was two little girls stood on the balcony. We looked and said, ’There’s little children on the balcony’. I saw this figure behind them.

“Instantaneously, I knew something was wrong. I saw two little children coming off the balcony feet-first as if they had been pushed off.

“I looked at Sarah [Davidson], and as I looked back up I saw an adult man falling, slightly above the two children. I shouted, ’Oh my God, he’s killed his kids’.

“Then the little girl was coming down first. The little boy had his arms out as if they were trying to grab each other almost.

“It was just like slow motion, the adult male caught up with the two children, then you just heard thuds on the floor.”

Earlier, Ms Jackman’s friend Sarah Davidson has told the inquest that she had never heard such an horrific argument as the noise coming from the bedroom above.

“There was more of a male voice. . . so I looked up straight away. That’s when I saw two children stood on the balcony on the edge,” said Mrs Davidson, close to tears.

“I noticed they had clothing on. . . at first I thought they were between eight and twelve-years-old. They were stood there motionless.

“The male voice — I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it was so horrific. . . That’s when the male came forward and pushed them off.”

At this point Mrs Davidson broke down and asked to leave the Coroner’s Court. The coroner asked Mrs Davidson to take her time and describe the moment in more detail.

She said: “He was shorter than they were, like he was standing on the floor, so they were taller than him. Then he just came out and shouted something and went to push them off.

“As they fell, he grabbed the railings and plunged himself off. He went down head first. He didn’t have his arms out to stop himself. I couldn’t comprehend why he pushed them or didn’t try and reach out for them. I just couldn’t believe it.”

After a short break Mrs Davidson returned to continue her evidence. She said: “I was screaming, I couldn’t stop screaming. I told my husband to go in and help. “I couldn’t do anything for them. I ran to the reception and called for an ambulance.”

Mrs Davidson’s husband, Iain, told the inquest that he too had looked up to see the two small children standing on a small wall.

“It all happened so quickly — trying to calculate why there were two small children on the wall, what the noise was,” said Mr Davidson.

“The children were on either side of the wall, one on the left-hand side, one on the right-hand side. Almost in the same instance as an adult appeared, the children went over. There was lots of commotion on the floor at this point.”

Mr Davidson disagreed with his wife, saying that the man had appeared to try to stop the children falling.

“There was screaming as the children fell,” he said. “The adult appeared to try and grab them and the momentum appeared to take his body over the side.

“It was quite strange. The three were in the air, then they hit the ground separately. There were three loud thuds. There were three bodies there.”

Earlier Liam’s mother, Natasha Hogan — who has since remarried and told the inquest she wished to be addressed as Natasha Visser — described how her husband had behaved erratically on the day of the tragedy, growing more agitated as they discussed the end of their marriage.

In the moments before her son’s death, Mrs Visser said, she had returned to her room and was organising suitcases when Hogan came in in an “extremely upset” mood.

“John said, ’What the f*** are you doing?’ I said I was trying to close them [the suitcases] and sort them out. He stared at me with a crazed look, which I did not know.

“Suddenly he had his back turned. He was charging round the room. All I could hear was, ‘John’s packing is s***, John’s packing is s***’. Then I turned around and there was noone there. I just heard screaming, ’Oh my God’, down below. I knew at that point he had gone over.”

At the start of proceedings Mrs Visser and her family were criticised by the coroner for making prejudicial comments before the inquest.

The family issued a statement on Mrs Visser’s behalf yesterday, saying that three witnesses who were not called by the Greek court would cast new light on the case. It added that reports that Liam fell to his death clutched in his father’s arms could be proved wrong.

Paul Forrest, the Avon Coroner, said that such comments were unacceptable before an inquest.

“It tries to influence the conduct and verdict in these proceedings,” said Mr Forrest, adjourning the proceedings for a few moments to respond to the statement. “At the very least I would expect an apology from those responsible for issuing this release.”

Later, he made clear that he would not take any action over “the rather shocking press release”, but he added: “I make it clear I will not tolerate this in the future.”

Hogan, 33, originally from Bristol, told a Greek court in January that he felt “no guilt” over his son’s death as he was not in his right mind when the tragedy occurred.

He has been receiving treatment at a psychiatric hospital near Athens since the court cleared him of murder, ruling that he was suffering an “earthquake” of psychosis at the time of Liam’s death. He is not attending the inquest.

After the inquest heard that Liam’s father had suffered a long history of psychosis and depression, Hogan’s lawyer, Matthew Barnes, invited the coroner to consider his mental state in coming to his verdict. He said: “He was not aware of what he was doing because of the disease of his mind.”

Elizabeth Steel, Mrs Visser’s mother, said that it was not “undisputed” that Hogan was suffering from severe psychosis.

The coroner adjourned the case and will announce his verdict tomorrow.

The Sunday Express (30 Mar 2008 )
By Hilary Douglas

More Agony for Balcony Mother

The British father accused of killing his son by throwing him off a hotel balcony in Crete could be released as early as this week.

The move came as the psychiatrist treating John Hogan said his ex-wife – who wants him tried in Britain for murder – should be thinking about her own part in the story instead of blaming him.

Greek lawyers acting for Hogan, who is in a secure psychiatric hospital in Athens, will petition for his repatriation to the UK.

The 33-year-old former tiler, controversially cleared of murder by a court in Crete in January, may be back in Britain within weeks.

“He is making steady progress and I will ask the court to permit him to return home very quickly,” his lawyer Dimitris Xiritakis said. Hogan’s imminent return opens the way for a retrial after his ex-wife Natasha Visser urged the Crown Prosecution Service to consider putting him before a jury.

The hospital nurse, who has since remarried, appealed for the “miscarriage of justice” to be corrected after a Bristol coroner ruled last week that six-year-old Liam had been unlawfully killed.

The boy died from head injuries in the 50ft fall from the fourth-floor balcony. Hogan then leapt off the balcony with his four-year-old daughter Mia, but both survived.

The coroner’s verdict came amid suggestions that the Greek court had been overly lenient. The judges, initially against Hogan, were swayed by his history of clinical depression.

Now Greek officials are furious that their judgment is being called into question. Speaking to the Sunday Express, Dr Ioannis Nestoros, the psychiatrist treating Hogan, said the court had made a good judgment.

“I really don’t understand why his wife is trying to create a case against good justice,” he added. “She should be thinking about her own role in the whole story instead of simply blaming John.

“John has tormented himself trying to remember what happened and has been totally unable to,” he said. People who suffer acute psychotic episodes have no recall of what they have done and, as in his case, there is complete confusion.

“He is not a cruel criminal. What happened to John could happen to us all.”

  John Hogan (33) aquitted of murder in Crete

Tina Longworth was strangled on 08 January 1997 by her husband, Paul Simon Longworth (then 37), who then hung her body over a bannister in order to make it look like she had committed suicide. After murdering his wife, Longworth went to the local club for drinks in order to establish an alibi. Suspicions were aroused when it was revealed at autopsy that Mrs Longworth had 36 separate injuries on her body. Mrs Longworth had also accused her husband of raping her, and Longworth had even admitted to a friend that he had hit her. Tina Longworth left behind two children, Abby (then seven) and Matthew (then five), who were sleeping nearby at the time of their mother’s murder.

Longworth was sentenced to Life, with a minimum tariff of 14 years. A High Court ruling means he can asked to be freed in 2011.

The Independent (27 Feb 1998 )

Yachtsman gets life for killing wife and faking suicide
By Louise Jury

WHEN mother-of-two Tina Longworth disappeared under water as she overturned her sailing dinghy, her husband Paul was unmoved. “The only trouble is she’s coming up,” he said.

Three weeks later, the yachting commodore celebrated his 37th birthday by strangling her, then attempting to fake her suicide.

The truth began to unravel when police noticed strange scratches and bruises on her body.

Yesterday, despite repeated denials, Paul Longworth, 38, received a life sentence for her murder. In a month-long trial at Liverpool Crown Court, the jury was told of the Longworths’ turbulent marriage through the gossipy conversations of the Southport Sailing Club in Merseyside which was their social life.

After seven years together, the marriage had run into difficulties. Longworth admitted to a friend, Dave Smith, that he had hit his wife and on another occasion, Mrs Longworth accused her husband of raping her. As the marriage deteriorated, she began an affair with local firefighter Gary Silcock. “She met me for the same reason I met her – things were not right at home,” Mr Silcock told the court. “She didn’t want to leave Paul. She didn’t want to hurt him and she couldn’t leave her children.” That decision led to her death.

Detective Inspector Bob Morrison, who investigated the murder, said he believed the couple had an argument on the morning of Paul Longworth’s birthday. “He admitted he had ripped up a birthday card in front of his wife in the morning,” the inspector said outside court. “He went to work and when he came back the argument continued.” The killing itself was less a crime of passion than of temper, he said. “He is a ruthless and possessive man.”

What apparently happened was this: Longworth strangled his wife on the evening of 8 January last year. He strung her body from the banisters of their home with a piece of sailing rope as their children, Abby, seven, and Matthew, five, slept near by. And he went for a birthday drink at the sailing club for an alibi. On his return, he dialled 999 sounding distraught and desperate and woke neighbours to demand their help.

As a neighbour who was a nurse searched for Mrs Longworth’s pulse, he sat on the stairs, cradling her head and stroking her hair. Despite the absence of a note, police at first thought at first they were dealing with a suicide. Mrs Longworth had previously received treatment for a phobia about cancer and her husband claimed she was depressed. But the seeds of doubts were sown when police became suspicious of the number of marks on her body. A post-mortem examination revealed 36 separate injuries. The tone of her diary and letters to her grandfather were at odds with an interpretation of depression and medical evidence suggested she had made a complete recovery from her illness phobia.

Longworth, who worked in an opticians, had at first pretended their marriage was perfectly normal. When he was re-interviewed in the light of the suspicions, he admitted he and his wife had had a turbulent year. But he denied murder to the very end.

After the case yesterday, Detective Inspector Morrison said he believed the verdict was the right one. “Paul Longworth has been described as a ruthless and callous individual. The murder he committed and his actions since have proved that description to be true. “Although I am obviously pleased with the result, the reality of today is that two young children have, in effect, lost their father as well as their mother.” He was surprised, he added, that the dead woman’s family had supported Longworth throughout the trial. But that was testimony indeed to how plausible the killer’s lies had been.

Copyright 1998 Newspaper Publishing PLC
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

Liverpool Daily Post (08 Mar 2008 )

Murderer gets date to ask for freedom
By Aaron Boland

A keen yachtsman who murdered his wife, and then claimed she had killed herself, can ask to be freed in three years time following a High Court ruling yesterday.

Paul Simon Longworth, from Southport, Merseyside, was found guilty of murdering his wife, Tina, in February, 1999.

He had strangled her in early January, 1997, and then hung her body from the banisters of their home with a sailing rope while their young children slept nearby.

Following his trial, Longworth was jailed for life.

After reviewing the case at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Mr Justice Goldring set his tariff, the minimum number of years he must spend behind bars, at 14 years.

Given the time he spent on remand, the judge’s ruling means Longworth, 38 at the time he was sentenced, can ask to be freed in 2011.

Fiona Erickson (47) a mother of two, had been dragged out of a vehicle driven by her husband, Andrew Erickson (then 45), after an argument. Horrified witnesses told how Erickson then drove around the roundabout, and ran over his wife as she lay on the road. Erickson admitted to manslaughter ‘due to provocation’ (which was rejected at sentencing) and was sentenced to seven years for her murder.

The BBC (11 Mar 2008 )

Taxi driver killed wife after row

A taxi driver who ran over his wife and killed her after she snapped off his rear view mirror during a row has been jailed for seven years.
Andrew Erickson, 46, of Cwmbran, Torfaen, lost his temper when his wife Fiona also deliberately snapped off the indicator arm while they were parked.

Erickson admitted manslaughter on the basis of provocation.

Judge Nicholas Cooke QC at Cardiff Crown Court said it was a “brutal killing”.

The court heard how the taxi driver stopped at a roundabout to drag his wife out of the Ford Mondeo and onto the road.

People in a following car watched in horror as Erickson got back into the car and slowly drove around a roundabout “aiming” the car at his wife lying in the road.

Erickson then drove home, tidied up his car and then rang a friend in a bid to come up with a “plausible explanation”, the court was told.

When police arrived at the couple’s home, two hours later he told them it had been an accident.

Prosecutor Winston Roddick told the court the couple had spent the night drinking with friends and became involved in an argument on their way home.

“As they rowed in the car on the way home she broke off the rear view mirror and the indicator arm,” he said.

“Erickson lost his temper and pulled his wife headfirst out of the driver’s side of the car.

“He got back into the white Ford Mondeo and drove round a roundabout and over her body.”

The court heard Erickson then drove home, tidily and carefully parked his car and meticulously placed his clothes and shoes in the wardrobe.

He then phoned a friend – not the emergency services – for a “plausible explanation”, Mr Roddick said.

He left a message saying: “I’ve got a mega problem, I think I ran Fiona over,” the court was told.

The court heard the couple’s four-year relationship had run into trouble when she began drinking heavily after her mother committed suicide.

The court heard that Mrs Erickson had been so drunk on the night she died she would have had difficulty getting up off the road.

He told police: “Once she started breaking the bits I thought ‘that’s it you’re out of the car'”.

Erickson had circled the roundabout before driving over her body.

Mrs Erickson’s daughter Donna Knowlton gave a victim impact statement to the court describing her mother as “a warm generous woman.”

She said: “I miss my mum very much – she was like a best friend to me.

“She was such a warm and loving woman. Not being able to speak to or see her is terrible.”

After sentencing Erickson to seven years in jail, Judge Cooke QC said he had committed a “grave crime”.

He said: “I’m satisfied this is a case culminative frustration and anger leading to loss of control. It does have to be borne in mind that you knew your wife had a drink problem.

“She was someone to be helped rather than be angry with.

“The fact that she damaged your car cannot be accept as provocation of a high order.”

Angela Parkes (49)  was stabbed to death by her husband of 28 years, Christopher Parkes (49). Parkes denies remembering stabbing his wife multiple times, but has been found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to six years. The family, although supportive of Parkes, are dissatisfied with the sentence.

This is Lancashire (06 Mar 2008 )

Wife killer accused breaks down in court

A Blackpool man accused of murdering his wife broke down as he told a jury today he could not remember hurting her.

Christopher Parkes insisted he would never have intended to hurt his wife Angela, but despite trying to recall, he simply could not remember the fatal incident.

The 49-year-old is on trial at Preston Crown Court where he denies murdering his 49-year-old wife at their home in Houseman Place, Blackpool, in May last year.

Giving evidence, he told the court he really wanted to remember what took place at the time.

“I have said since the start of all this happening that I would be hypnotised, doctors can drug me.

“It is for the children. Their lives have been destroyed and it might help them to gain strength”.

Angela Parkes, a civil servant, died after suffering two stab wounds to the heart, as well as other wounds to the neck, chin and arms.

The court has heard the couple married in 1979 and went on to have three children.

The defendant said he adored his wife.

He said that on the date in May last year, his wife had said: “I’m not going out with you because you are slurring your words”.

This was while he was at the bottom of the stairs and she was on the stairs at home.

The next thing he remembered was seeing his wife on the kitchen floor.

In response to questions from his counsel, Mr John Bromley-Davenport QC, Parkes shook his head to indicate he could not remember how she got there or using a knife.

“I can’t remember,” he added.

Mr Bromley-Davenport then asked him “Can you think whether you had any intent to harm or kill her?”.

The defendant responded: “I can’t remember hurting her.

“I would never intend to hurt Angela. I wouldn’t want to hurt Angela for the world. I love her so much”.

The defendant said he had tried every day to remember what happened.

Last night, before giving evidence, he thought he remembered, for the first time, Angela saying something about twenty pounds being missing.

He added that he could remember being in a police van after the events, but could not recall telling police at the station “I’m a murderer.

“I have murdered my wife”.

The trial continues.

The Blackpool Citizen (11 Mar 2008 )

Man jailed for manslaughter of wife

A Blackpool father-of-three who claimed he couldn’t remember stabbing his wife has been cleared of murder by a jury at Preston crown court.

But 49-year-old Christopher Parkes of Houseman Place, Blackpool, was found guilty of manslaughter on a majority verdict and was jailed for six years.

The Judge Mr Justice David Clarke said it was a totally one-off event and remained unexplained.

But although short lived, it was a ferocious and very violent attack.

At a previous trial, the jury had been unable to reach a verdict.

Parkes’ wife Angela, a 49-year-old civil servant, suffered two stab wounds to the heart at the family home in May last year. She also had other wounds to the neck, chin and arms.

Parkes, who works for a gas company, broke down as he told the jury he could not recall the attack and insisted he would never have intended to hurt his wife.

The court heard that the couple married in 1979 and Parkes said he adored his wife.

He told the jury he remembered seeing her on the kitchen floor but not how she got there.

The Blackpool Citizen (12 Mar 2008 )

Family of man who killed wife release statement

The family of a Blackpool father-of-three who was this week jailed for six years after being found guilty of the manslaughter of his wife.

The 49-year-old claimed he couldn’t remember stabbing wife Angela, also 49, in May last year, was cleared of murder by a jury at Preston crown court.

Today the Parkes family released this statement: “This has been an extremely harrowing and trying time for our family, as we have tried to come to terms with the sudden death of our mother, after our parents had had such a long and happy time together.

“We are pleased that the trial process is now over and that dad has accepted that he did wrong and was responsible for mum’s death.

“We would like to thank all our family and friends for their support and help through this difficult time.

“Our mum was a very special person to us and everyone who knew her.

No jail sentence, no matter how long, can ever bring her back into our lives.

“We know that the sentence of 6 years passed on dad is in line with sentencing rules, but also feel, as a family, that it does not properly reflect our loss or the terrible way in which she died.

“In our view this punishment is not one that reflects the severity of the crime, or the full nature of our loss.

“We have lost our mum forever; we would ask now to be left alone to re-build our lives and become the family she always wanted us to be.”

  Christopher Parkes (49) sentenced to six years