Jury retires in trial of man accused of raping and murdering wife in Northampton
The 56 year old is accused of trying to make his wife's death look like a suicide
A jury has retired to consider its verdicts in the trial of a man accused of raping and murdering his wife by suffocating her before staging the scene to look like she had taken her own life.
Michael Thompson, 56, is alleged to have been coercive towards Kimberley Thompson and made hundreds of hours of recordings of her before she died in their Northampton home in the early hours of August 9 last year.
A trial at Nottingham Crown Court has heard that the defendant claimed he found 43-year-old Ms Thompson lifeless and surrounded by tablets and alcohol bottles.
Ms Thompson’s post-mortem examination found no evidence of any alcohol and only low levels of caffeine, paracetamol and codeine in her body, the court was told.
Jurors were asked by Judge Nirmal Shant KC to begin their deliberations on Friday morning.
The defendant, who did not give evidence in his trial, denies murder, rape and two counts of perverting the course of justice.
The final two counts relate to allegations that Thompson manufactured messages from his wife suggesting she was drunk, as well as allegedly placing photographs and alcohol bottles near her bed.
Thompson and his wife, who had two children, were separated and divorce proceedings had been initiated at the time of the alleged killing.
The prosecution claimed that Thompson, who still lived with his wife at their home address in Pinewood Road, Northampton, monitored what she “did, ate, where she went and who she was with”.
Prosecutor Miranda Moore KC had told jurors that the defendant had been in his room watching sexual videos of his ex, “stewing” about the fact she had a new boyfriend, was planning to move out and had asked for about £65,000 in their divorce.
Jurors heard that Thompson claimed Ms Thompson was “merry” before they had sex, but he later found her unresponsive.
During the closing defence speech at the trial, Jonas Hankin KC urged jurors to closely examine what he described as “actively dishonest” accounts given by Ms Thompson of alleged sexual and physical abuse.
Urging jurors to acquit Thompson, Mr Hankin described claims of a financial motive for the alleged killing as “far-fetched”.
Mr Hankin said of the defendant: “He is a quiet, hard-working family man who kept himself to himself. That was the evidence.”