Man who murdered Plymouth university lecturer loses appeal to have sentence reduced
54 year old Paul Butler was jailed for life last year for the murder of Claire Chick in Plymouth
A man serving a life sentence for the murder of his estranged wife in Plymouth has lost an appeal to have his sentence reduced.
Paul Antony Butler was jailed for at least 27 years in April last year (2025) after admitting to repeatedly stabbing Plymouth University Lecturer Claire Chick over 20 times with a kitchen knife outside her home in January 2025.
Prosecutors told Butler’s sentencing hearing at the city’s crown court that before her murder, Ms Chick had endured months of harassment, stalking and violence at the 54-year-old’s hands and had made six statements to the police about his conduct.
Sentencing him, Judge Robert Linford said that Butler’s actions were “nothing less than sheer murderous brutality” following a relationship of “obsession and control”.
Butler sought to challenge the length of his sentence, telling the Court of Appeal in written submissions that he believed it was “excessively harsh”, but three senior judges dismissed the appeal bid on Tuesday.
Judge Kristina Montgomery KC, sitting with Lord Justice Singh and Mr Justice Picken, said there were “numerous aggravating features” in the case, concluding: “There are no arguable grounds for saying that the sentence was manifestly excessive.”
Butler did not attend the hearing in person and was not represented.
Plymouth Crown Court heard that Butler and Ms Chick, a lecturer in nursing at the University of Plymouth, became neighbours in 2021, were a couple the following year, and married in 2024.
But the marriage soon broke down, prosecutors said, with Butler later arrested three times for assault, harassment and stalking of Ms Chick, including for placing a tracking device on her car.
With his escalating behaviour, Ms Chick told police in her final statement the day before she was killed: “I only feel that Butler will kill me if further action is not taken. I am in fear of leaving my house.”
After learning Ms Chick had formed a new relationship, Butler went to her flat wearing a camouflaged hooded top and waited for her to come out of the building.
He then attacked her in the street and also chased Ms Chick’s new partner, who witnessed the murderous assault, shouting at him: “I’ll f** do you too.”
Butler was arrested the following day at a hotel in Liskeard and told police: “She trusted me and she loved me and I can’t believe I have done this.
“She has children and grandchildren – I have destroyed so many lives. I don’t care about me.”
He added: “I am a monster. I have just seen hell, I am going to hell. This is what I am going to look forward to.”
More than a dozen officers were served with misconduct or gross misconduct notices in January this year over Devon and Cornwall Police’s contact with Ms Chick.
These included 15 police officers, two police staff members and one former officer, who were involved in logging information, risk assessments and safeguarding decisions made about Ms Chick from September 2024 until just before her death.