A SPURNED husband has been found guilty of murder after bludgeoning his estranged wife of 40 years to death because she left him for an old school friend.
David Thomas, 74, killed Sheila Thomas, 69, at their former matrimonial home in Herne Hill, South London, when she turned up to collect some belongings.
She had called an end to the marriage around a month earlier, telling her new partner that life with Thomas had “been hell” and describing how she had been unhappily wed for four decades.
Jurors heard Mrs Thomas was not expecting her estranged partner to be home that day after he promised in a phone call the night before he would not be in when she arrived.
But the court heard it was a “lie” and he was “waiting to kill her” at their home.
Brian O’Neill QC, prosecuting, said: “He was there, waiting for her, waiting to kill her.”
He was there, waiting for her, waiting to kill her
Brian O'Neill QC
Jurors were told that in the month or so since she had left him, Thomas “had spoken to a friend about getting hold of a gun”.
Mr O’Neill added: “As things turned out he was able to accomplish his objective of killing his wife of more than 50 years by stabbing her with a kitchen knife and bludgeoning her with a large piece of wood in one of the bedrooms of their home.”
Shortly before the killing on July 24 last year Mrs Thomas struck up a relationship with a friend of one of her son’s fathers, Victor Cassar, whom she knew when she was a teenager.
Mr O’Neill added: “When the defendant discovered the relationship between Mrs Thomas and Mr Cassar she moved out of the family home at the defendant’s insistence and moved in with Mr Cassar.
“This appears to have been on or around 28 June, just a month before she died.
“Mrs Thomas was to tell Victor Cassar that life with the defendant had ‘been hell’ and that she had been unhappy in her marriage for 40 years.
HUSBAND ASKED PAL FOR A GUN
“When her sons and daughters asked their mother why she had left their father she said similar things to them.”
The Old Bailey heard that around a week before the murder Thomas approached a friend of his “and asked him whether he could get a gun for him”.
On the day she died, Mrs Thomas was dropped around the corner from the house at 11.30am by Mr Cassar who was anxious to avoid any sort of confrontation with Thomas.
A short while later a neighbour doing some gardening heard a male voice shouting: “Tell me where you live, tell me where you f**king live.”
Jurors were told he could hear a woman who sounded as though she was in pain pleading: “Let me go, let go of me.”
After dozens more similar demands, the neighbour reported hearing the man threaten: “I’m going to break your f**king neck.”
As he called 999, the court was told the man could hear “a series of perfectly placed dull thuds”.
Mr O’Neill added: “At first, each one was accompanied by a whimpering noise but after the first few blows that noise evaporated and there was just the continuing sound of blows.”
Mr O’Neill said the pensioner was stalling “in order to give himself time to injure himself by stabbing his torso a number of times”.
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He told officers he had been stabbed during a fight and Mrs Thomas was upstairs, jurors heard.
Detective Chief Inspector John Massey, of Scotland Yard, said: “This is a particularly tragic set of circumstances.
“When the victim and the person responsible are husband and wife there are bound to be devastating effects for the immediate family and friends.
“I hope this verdict brings a sense of justice for Sheila and those affected, and will allow them to take the next steps in rebuilding their lives.”
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News Photo Jilted husband, 75, stabbed wife, 69, to death when she left him for childhood pal who wooed her on Facebook
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