ANGER AS FORMER GULF NEWS EDITOR JAILED FOR 10 YEARS FOR KILLING WIFE
▶ Victim’s family say justice has not been done and call for longer prison term over hammer attack
A British newspaper editor who killed his wife with a hammer in their Dubai home has been sentenced to 10 years in jail, but the victim’s family say “justice has not yet been done”.
Francis Matthew, 61, who was not in court yesterday when the verdict was handed down, had faced the death penalty for killing his wife Jane, 62.
Peter Manning, Jane Matthew’s brother, was in court for the verdict and later issued a statement on behalf of the family expressing their disappointment.
It reads: “We attended the Dubai Courts today and our family has been saddened by the sentence given to Francis Matthew, Jane’s killer.
“We believe the facts clearly demonstrate that this crime was a deliberate act. In the defendant’s own version of events, he collected the murder weapon, a hammer, in the kitchen and carried it down two corridors of the house to the bedroom. There was time for him to consider his actions. Instead he delivered two hammer blows to the front of Jane’s head. He made no attempt to call an ambulance afterwards.
“We also know, contrary to the defence’s argument, that Jane had been aware for months that the villa was due for demolition. The defendant has admitted that rows over money had occurred frequently for some time.
“Ongoing arguments about money or a house can arise in any marriage and cannot justify this killing.
“Jane was a loving wife, mother, daughter, sister and aunt. Losing her in such a brutal manner has left the family both bewildered and shocked.
“We feel that justice has not yet been done as we realise that the actual sentence served may be less than the 10-year sentence. We hope that this sentence is changed on appeal.” Police told the court that on July 4, officers were called to Matthew’s home in Jumeirah at 5.45pm. There they found his wife of 30 years dead in bed with a severe head wound.
Police said Matthew initially claimed his wife had been assaulted by robbers who had broken into their home and killed her while he was at work between 8am and 5pm.
During questioning, he admitted to police his wife had grown angry with him after he told her they needed to move to a smaller home because they were in debt.
Matthew said his wife provoked him, calling him a loser and saying it was his responsibility to provide money.
He told police his wife pushed him so he took a hammer from the kitchen, followed her to the bedroom and hit her twice on the head while she was in bed.
A forensic expert told the court that bruises around her mouth and upper lip indicated that she was silenced forcefully while on the bed.
The next morning, Matthew tried to make the house look like the scene of a robbery. He then left for work after throwing the hammer, which had been wrapped in a plastic bag, into a nearby rubbish bin.
The court heard the testimonies of four Emirati police officers, a Sri Lankan gardener and an Egyptian forensic expert. It also listened to good-character testimonies from Matthew’s son, brother and sister.
In earlier hearings, Matthew’s lawyer, Ali Al Shamsi described the incident as “a moment of temporary insanity”.
After the sentence was handed down yesterday, Mr Al Shamsi told The National the criminal court had dropped a premeditated murder charge after a recent hearing.
“The accused has been sentenced to 10 years in jail after being convicted of physical assault leading to death,” he said. The Briton was editor of Gulf
News from 1995 to 2005 and then became an editor-at-large at the newspaper.
He and his wife were prominent members of the expatriate community.
Matthew will be deported after serving his sentence.