‘Rough sex’ killer of girlfriend to be freed after just 22 months
AKILLER who left his girlfriend dying – and then tried to claim she had agreed to ‘rough sex’ – is set to be freed from jail within days after serving less than two years. Two separate sources have revealed they have been told multi-millionaire John Broadhurst will be released in early October.
If he is freed as expected, he will have served just 22 months of the sentence of three years and eight months imposed in December 2018 over the death of Natalie Connolly.
The 26-year-old victim was left to die in a pool of blood at the bottom of a flight of stairs at their home in Kenrose Mill, Kinver,
two years earlier. Birmingham Crown Court heard she suffered more than 40 injuries, including a ‘blow-out’ fracture to her left eye, bruising and internal injuries. Broadhurst admitted leaving Miss Connolly unsupervised and failing to contact the emergency services in circumstances where “a risk of death as a result of her condition would have been obvious”. He admitted a charge of manslaughter by gross negligence as he stood trial accused of murder and causing grievous bodily harm.
Broadhurst was cleared of murder on the direction of the judge following legal submissions. The tragedy led to a change in the law with the scrapping of the so-called “rough sex defence” – the claim the victim consented to injuries which caused their death.
Wyre Forest MP Mark Garnier, together with Labour MP Harriet Harman, championed the change.
The Government has since amended its Domestic Abuse Bill. Mr Garnier, who was Miss Connolly’s MP before she moved in with Broadhurst, previously said: “Natalie’s death is the stuff of nightmares.
“What we hope to achieve from it is a way to make sure that people take more responsibility for their actions, and that killers get the right sentences, whilst victims get justice.
“The case of my constituent Natalie Connolly, and the woeful under performance of the system with regards to her killer John Broadhurst, highlighted a rising menace of justice gameplaying by killers and abusers.”
He added: “There is no justice in this. There never has been for Natalie. She was deprived of her life and of her reputation by this man and he got 18 months for it. “Natalie Connolly was not someone who was into rough sex. This was Broadhurst using it. She was a just a fairly normal, fun-loving mother who, like most people, wanted a nice, happy relationship with someone she loved.”