A Former UKIP councilor has been found guilty of the murder of his wife after he had an affair with their son's girlfriend. He is currently facing lifetime a jail.
The 64-year-old ex-Royal Marine, Stephen Searle and his wife Anne Searle, 62, had been married for 45 years with three sons together. Stephen said he had been defending himself after his wife attacked him with a knife.
It took the jurors of Ipswich Crown Court three-and-a-half hours to find him guilty of the murder. Stephen showed no reaction as the verdict was read out on Tuesday following a six-day trial.
Prosecutor Andrew Jackson said Searle may have placed his wife in a choke hold that he had knowledge from his military training.
Mr Justice Green said that Searle's "act of infidelity in one way or another, led to this". He told the trial that Stephen and Ann Searle's marriage had been under strain since Mrs Searle found out her husband's affair with their son, Gary's partner, Anastasia Pomiateeva, who is mother to one of her grandchildren. She found out around June 2017.
A 999 call made on December 2017 was played to the jurors, Searle told the police "I've just killed my wife."
Police officers rushed to their home in Stowmarket, Suffolk, within minutes of the call made at 10:19pm, and found Ann Searle dead.
Mr Jackson added that "The prosecution case is that on that Saturday night there had probably been yet another row between the two of them, and, in anger, the defendant strangle his wife to death."
A post-mortem examination revealed that Mrs Searle died of compression of the neck. Searle has been sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court on Wednesday.
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