Welshman pushed over the edge by unfaithful wife
John Perry would do almost anything to avoid paying his wife a hefty divorce settlement
John Perry was a rough, tough Welshman who hailed from the North Wales village of Higher Kinnerton. The Philippines were a long way from Higher Kinnerton, and a good thing, too, thought John, as he sat belly up to the bar in Manila. You see, John, at a not- too- well- preserved 52 years of age, had just gone through a rather nasty divorce back home. He had travelled to the Philippines to get away from it all.
Was it just his imagination that the beauty at the other end of the bar was flashing him a comehither smile? The next night she was occupying the same bar stool and was still smiling. And the next night, too.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. John sauntered over. Her name was Arminda.
For three weeks, John spent every day and every night with the attractive 20- year- old. He was smitten and had every reason to believe that Arminda was fond of him as well. portions were missing. It is believed John fed pieces of his wife to his cat, Katie.
Doctors reconstructed most of Arminda’s head. Though they were unable to establish the cause of death, they were able to ascertain that she had not been strangled. Bone fragments indicated Arminda had received a vicious blow to the back of her head. John had also lied about killing his wife in the living room. The physical evidence proved she had been killed in the bathtub.
During the investigation into this repugnant murder, detectives located a friend of John’s who was a butcher. This man told police John had recently inquired as to how he went about cutting up a carcass. He asked about the tools required. Many tools the butcher had mentioned to John were found in John’s house.
In addition, at the factory where John worked, he had told fellow workers he was furious at having to pay 15,000 pounds to Arminda as a divorce settlement. He speculated to them there must be another way out of his predicament.
In November 1991, John stood trial for the murder of his wife. The prosecution produced all the damaging evidence related here. The best John’s defence attorney could muster was his client’s original statement that the murder had not been premeditated, but had been a spur of the moment act.
The English jury wasn’t swayed. John Perry was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.