Killer showed ‘no remorse or regret’

AFTER the trial ended Detective Superintendent Aaron Duggan, of Cheshire Police, said officers had to ‘unpick the lies’ of Darren McKie, 43, as they investigated the death of his wife Leanne.

When McKie was originally interviewed by officers, he told them he had nothing to do with his wife’s death – but nine days into his trial he admitted the manslaughter of the mother-of-three, who was strangled.

Mr Duggan said throughout interviews and court hearings McKie had ‘shown no emotion at all, no remorse, no regret at all for what he’s done’.

“Leanne found out that he’d been applying for loans in her name and she had no idea, she had no clue he was doing that,” he said.

He said the family lived ‘beyond their means’, but McKie was in charge of the finances.

Det Supt Duggan said: “It would appear he’s quite a controlling character in terms of the relationship around spending and we know from Leanne’s friends and other parents that messages would be sent from Darren to her along the lines of ‘stop spending, no more spending this month until we get paid’.

“Leanne didn’t know the true picture, she didn’t have a clue of how much debt was owed.”

Det Supt Duggan added: “Darren’s been holding out, he’s been hoping he could get away with what he’s done and it’s only when we’ve presented the overwhelming evidence during the trial that he’s accepted that there’s nowhere else for him to go other than to admit his guilt.”