Husband and wife jailed over killing of homeless man in sleeping bag

A HUSBAND and wife from Lincolnshire have been jailed for a total of 15 years for killing a homeless man in a revenge attack.

Marc Finnie, 44, was sentenced to eight years in prison while his wife Sarah Finnie, 36, was given seven years after being found guilty of the manslaughter of 45-year-old Tony Richardson in their home town of Grimsby.

Sarah Finnie, a security guard at Grimsby’s Freshney Place shopping centre, encouraged her husband to find Mr Richardson and attack him after he insulted her as she threw him out of a store.

She also ensured that a security camera was manoeuvred so it did not cover the scene of the assault, which happened outside the Halifax bank in Old Market Place in January.

Mr Richardson, who was sitting in a sleeping bag, suffered catastrophic injuries as a result of three blows to the head and died in hospital.

Humberside Police’s Detective Chief Inspector Stewart Miller said the Finnies had taken the law into their own hands while seeking revenge against Mr Richardson.

He added: “The level of violence involved [in the attack] went way beyond what you would expect from a husband confronting a man who had been verbally abusing his wife.”

Det Chief Insp Miller said Mr Richardson had “verbally abused and intimidated” Sarah Finnie at work over a “long period of time”.

The Finnies, of Sutcliffe Avenue, Grimsby, were found guilty by a jury at Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday and sentenced yesterday.

Mr Richardson’s family yesterday paid tribute to him in a statement, saying: “Tony did not lead a blame-free life and was not an angel but he was a good person at heart.

“He suffered with drug and alcohol addiction for many years which caused him to stray onto the wrong side of the tracks on occasion but he was good-natured and caring.

“He could on occasion be verbally abusive and cause upset but he was not an aggressive or violent man. He did not deserve to be attacked and killed for what he said in an argument.”