Murder trial told of couple’s huge debt
POLICE INSPECTOR ACCUSED OF STRANGLING DETECTIVE CONSTABLE WIFE AND DUMPING BODY
A POLICE inspector accused of murdering his wife strangled her to death after the couple ran up debts of £103,000, a court heard.
Leanne McKie, 39, a detective constable who worked in the serious sexual offences unit at Greater Manchester Police, was found dead in a Cheshire lake last September.
Her husband, father-of-three Darren McKie, 44, denies murder and manslaughter.
Chester Crown Court heard yesterday that the couple had amassed debt totalling £103,000 – not including their mortgage – and some 26 loan applications had been made for them, many of them declined.
Nigel Power, prosecuting, told the jury that despite their joint monthly income being £3,933, the couple’s finances were ‘not straightforward.’
Leanne was found dead in a lake at Poynton Park in Poynton, Cheshire, in the early hours of September 29 last year.
The court heard that at 1.31am that day, two police officers saw Darren McKie on Adlington Road, Wilmslow, and the defendant told them he was walking home and pointed to Bletchley Park Way – which was not where he lived. At 2.10am the same day officers saw the defendant again, this time on Moor Lane in Wilmslow, and took him home. On the second occasion the officers saw the defendant wasn’t wearing shoes, the court heard. At about 3.45am the police received a 999 call and then went to Poynton Lake where they discovered Leanne McKie’s body. Although in shallow water, she had not drowned. Mr Power said: “The prosecution case is that he strangled her to death.” The prosecution believe Darren McKie used his wife’s Mini Countryman to dump her body just before police stopped him. The couple had recently moved from rented accommodation to another home on Burford Close in Wilmslow, the court heard, and were thought to be happy despite their ‘money troubles.’ Jurors heard how Leanne McKie was said to have attended a party on September 23, 2017, where she allegedly told a friend: “Darren has told me to stop spending money and not to buy anything else next month.” Another friend had reported Leanne was in ‘high spirits’ and was ‘positive about her latest house move,’ Mr Power told the court. A financial analyst who looked into the McKie family’s finances revealed the couple had two joint current accounts, five savings accounts, four credit cards, three active loans and six finance agreements, as well as a mortgage for the house they had recently moved into, the court was told.
Darren McKie had worked for the police since 1996 while his wife had worked there since 2001.
Mr Power said: “In short they were living well beyond their means and were under considerable financial pressure, and although that could not be described as a new position the intensity was something that you may say was considerable.
“Now families often run into debt together because of extravagant spending.
“Often the husband and wife are in it together, and together they work their way out of it.”
Proceeding