Lady Discovered Responsible of Murdering Husband of 27 Years, Pretending He Was Suicidal: Prosecutors

Maureen Rickards, 50, was accused of killing Jeremy Rickards, 65, in June 2024. He was final seen on June 7, 2024, along with his physique discovered on July 11, six days after his daughter reported him lacking, per The BBC.

He’d been stabbed to loss of life, in keeping with a press launch from the Crown Prosecution Service, with Kent Police detailing 5 stab wounds to the chest.

A tenant within the constructing the place the Rickards lived advised police they’d “heard heard one thing heavy being hauled down the steps at night time,” earlier than seeing Maureen within the backyard.

A postmortem examination of Jeremy’s physique revealed that he had been stabbed to loss of life. He was moreover recovering from current rib fractures, per the discharge, and had “been strangled weeks earlier than his loss of life,” main them to conclude he was the sufferer of home abuse by the hands of his spouse.

CPS additionally detailed witness studies of seeing Jeremy with critical accidents previous to his loss of life, “together with a big reduce on his brow and bruising to his eyes and ears.” Witnessed advised authorities they have been involved sufficient to induce him to go to the hospital for therapy.

Of their launch, authorities detailed one incident the place Jeremy responded to a question about his accidents by saying, “Maureen was in a nasty temper with me.”

Police additionally discovered video of Maureen “being aggressive to Jeremy and hanging him.” At one level, she even stated on video that she would “do him hurt or kill him,” in keeping with CPS.

As a part of their investigation into Jeremys’ loss of life, police found the nice lengths Maureen allegedly went to in an try and cowl up his loss of life, per the CPS report, together with utilizing his financial institution playing cards to delivery.

She even purportedly messaged their daughter and herself from Jeremy’s cellphone on June 27 to say he’d arrived in Saudi Arabia, in addition to that he that he deliberate to take his personal life, per Individuals.

Maureen then contacted their daughter the next day, in keeping with the BBC, and advised her that her father had dedicated suicide.

The BBC revealed the contents of that purported message, which learn, “Jeremy is lifeless. He took his personal life… there have been witnesses. I used to be asleep.”

“Mum stated final night time, earlier than I needed to block her once more, that you just’re lifeless and also you killed your self,” the daughter subsequently texted her father’s cellphone, per the outlet. “So I do not know if that is actually you or simply her having taken over your cellphone once more.”

Suspicious of the wording within the messages she acquired from her father’s cellphone and anxious that “her mom had taken [it] over,” per CPS, the daughter filed a lacking individuals report on July 5, 2024 with the police.

Police have been reportedly capable of rapidly discover the physique after they searched the yard because of the scent. When arrested for the loss of life of her husband, Maureen reportedly requested police, “What physique?”

After they recovered Jeremy’s cellphone, the BBC studies that the messages along with his daughter had been deleted.

Of their assertion, James Fisher of the Crown Prosecution Service South East stated investigators have been capable of reduce by Maureen’s “net of lies, utilizing forensic proof and her actions earlier than and after the homicide, to color the image of a callous abuser, who subjected Jeremy to unimaginable ache and struggling.”

Fisher stated that Jeremy endured a “marketing campaign of sustained abuse” earlier than his loss of life, with the abuses turning into “extra extreme within the run-up to his homicide, leaving him frail, battered and bruised, with everybody who got here into contact with him involved for his wellbeing.”

He argued that Maureen “lied concerning the cruelty and violence she inflicted,” even going as far as to say his accidents had come from a automobile accident. Moreover, Fisher asserted that the suspect “Maureen has by no means taken duty for her actions nor proven any regret for murdering Jeremy.”

Investigators found swimming pools of blood inside the cabinet and the ground beneath it, even staining the ceiling of the condominium beneath, suggesting that Jeremy’s physique had initially been saved there for a time period.

Police found that Maureen had bought cleansing merchandise on June 20 together with her husband’s financial institution card she allegedly utilized in an try to wash up blood from the the carpet within the bed room.

She additional employed a handyman to chop the grass and put the clippings towards the underside of the yard, per the discharge, which she then allegedly utilized in an try and cowl the duffel bag.

Tying her to at the very least some a part of the method of trying to cover Jeremy’s physique, per the discharge, investigators discovered Maureen’s DNA on one of many trash baggage that Jeremy’s physique was wrapped in.

Maureen, in the meantime, advised the jury in courtroom that she was being “arrange,” in keeping with the BBC.

“One thing scary is happening. That is spooky, that is scary,” she stated.

Maureen Rickards is scheduled for sentencing on April 9, per the BBC, which added that she “didn’t react when the decision was learn out in courtroom.”