19 years for cop who strangled detective wife dumped in lake
A POLICE inspector who murdered his detective constable wife and dumped her body in a lake was yesterday jailed for life and told he must serve a minimum 19 years.
Darren McKie, 43, had strangled Leanne, 39, at their home after she discovered he was secretly applying for a loan in her name.
The couple, who have three children, regularly rowed over their £115,000 of unsecured debts.
When Leanne discovered his secret bid for a new loan, she sent him a furious text calling him a “liar”.
The “cowardly” inspector then raced home and strangled her to death, Chester Crown Court heard.
McKie took her body from their detached, £435,000 home in Wilmslow, Cheshire, and dumped it at nearby Poynton lake.
Afterwards he coolly went on the school run, chatting with other parents as he picked up his children.
After he was found guilty, Mr Justice Spencer told him: “You strangled her to death in the family home. It was a cruel killing.
“Then, abusing your knowledge with criminal investigations, you set about disposing of your wife’s body in a callous and despicable way.
“You have robbed your children of their mother and Leanne’s parents of their beloved child.”
He said the couple, both with Greater Manchester Police, appeared to have a “perfect marriage”.
But the “spectre of serious and constant debt” was in the background and they were living beyond Darren McKie strangled wife at home their means. The judge told McKie: “Your combined monthly income was greatly exceeded by your monthly expenditure.
“Despite this you took an expensive family holiday in Portugal that summer, costing over £6,000. There was bound to be a day of reckoning.”
The couple’s debts included £45,000 on credit cards, £40,000 on loans and £18,000 owed for renovations.
Mrs McKie’s mother Ellen Dodd said after the verdict: “We are so sad that Leanne’s children have been left without a mother to look after them and watch them grow up.
“They love her so much and miss her. Nothing will bring our beautiful daughter back to us.”