Man, 49, gets 13 years for his partner’s manslaughter

A MAN who killed his partner and then hid her body in a children’s playhouse has been jailed for 13 years.

Anthony Bird killed mum of two Tracy Kearns, 43, in May this year.

The 49-year-old, who was found guilty of manslaughter and cleared of murder last week, was said to have shown no remorse for his victim or her family.

Sentencing Bird at Mold Crown Court yesterday, Judge Justice Clive Lewis said: “You lied to her mother, her family, her friends and her work colleagues. You lied to the police.

“If you had shown any remorse that would have been a mitigating factor in sentencing.

“I am sure you do not have any remorse at all for killing Tracy. Your emotions and your tears are for yourself.”

Bird claimed during his trial that she had tried to attack him with a pair of scissors and that she stopped breathing after he grabbed her by the throat to stop her.

But Bird went on to hide her body in a children’s playhouse in the garden of their home before putting her body in a trailer and covering it with rubble and debris.

He left it in the grounds of the Kinmel Bay club in Conwy, where they had both worked, but did not alert police to it when they arrested him just yards away.

He had even assisted in the search for Ms Kearns while all the time knowing she was dead.

The judge said he was “sure” that Bird intended to kill Ms Kearns, and said the degree of provocation from her was “low”.