‘Evil’ husband jailed for life over wife’s murder
An “evil and controlling” man who strangled his wife and set fire to her body has been jailed for life.
Plasterer Thomas Peter, 50, rammed a flannel into Karen Peter’s mouth to stop her from calling out to her three daughters during the attack at their home in Valentines Way, Romford.
He dragged her by the hair and went on to set light to her body to disguise what he had done, the Old Bailey heard.
Serial adulterer Peter killed the job centre worker last August because he feared she had met someone new, jurors were told.
Previously, he had throttled his wife of 24 years and belittled her during arguments, calling her “fat” and a “bad mother”, a court heard.
Just weeks before the murder, Peter took out a life insurance policy of £310,000.
He was found guilty of murder and arson after a jury rejected his claim that he killed Mrs Peter, 50, by accident.
Judge Richard Marks QC said Peter was “an arrogant, egotistical, chauvinistic, controlling bully” who treated his wife “abysmally”.
He said: “Karen must have suffered an agonising death in her own home as you squeezed the life out of her as she tried to attract the attention of her three daughters, upon whom she doted, but was unable because you rammed that cloth down her throat for the express purpose of stopping her doing so.
“You pleaded not guilty to these offences and put your daughters and your mother-in-law through the ordeal of giving evidence.
“I observe that you have shown absolutely no remorse for what you did and for the fact that you have shattered their lives.”
Their children were first alerted to their mother’s plight when they woke to a “muffled scream” coming from the bedroom, jurors heard.
Asked what was going on, Peter said she had gone out, even asking his children if they had done something to upset her, jurors heard.
Firefighters found Mrs Peter’s body heavily burned around the groin and thighs, with marks also to the head and neck.
Judge Marks handed “wicked and cruel” Peter a life sentence for murder with a minimum term of 25 years, plus seven years for arson, to run concurrently.