City banker set fire to wife then claimed she had died making him a bacon sandwich
A CITY banker burnt his wife alive and then claimed she died while making him a BLT sandwich.
Darren Byrne, 40, knocked out 35-year-old spouse Maria in a row after she discovered text messages to his mistress.
Trying to cover his tracks, the former Goldman Sachs analyst doused the mother of two in white spirit and set her alight.
Byrne then went out to walk the dog, leaving the gas stove on in an attempt to start a fire at their £450,000 semi- detached home in Theydon Bois, Essex.
When that failed he moved his wife’s charred body to make it look like a tragic cooking accident and dialled 999, telling handlers: ‘My wife is dead, she is dead. She is burned badly.’
Byrne told police he had been out while she made him a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich and returned to find her body.
After Byrne was found guilty of murder yesterday, Judge Charles Gratwicke warned him to expect an ‘exceedingly long sentence’, adding: ‘You have been convicted of what can only be described as a wicked and heinous crime.’
Chelmsford Crown Court heard Byrne had been confronted before about his infidelity but convinced his wife to give their marriage another go.
The couple had planned to go to America to celebrate his 40th birthday. But the financier had carried on seeing married lover Deborah Houlihan, a 48-year-old London-based osteopath.
She told the trial they carried on the illicit affair even though they had both told their partners it was over between them.
Mrs Houlihan described the relationship as ‘fun and no more’, adding: ‘Deep in my heart I knew it was wrong but we made each other feel good and I felt excited by the spark we had between us.’ Sources close to the case last night said she and husband David are still together.
Byrne was on gardening leave with futures trading firm RJ O’Brien UK Ltd on February 13 when his wife discovered texts on a secret phone he was using to speak to his mistress.
She was said to have ignited ‘like a wick in a candle’ after being set alight. After Byrne’s plan to burn the house down failed, jurors heard he moved her body to make it look like a tragic cooking accident – telling detec- tives his wife had been making him a BLT sandwich while he was out. But prosecutor Andrew Jackson said it was a ‘deliberate and calculated lie’ and Byrne had been texting his lover an hour before the murder.
He added: ‘He told police he had taken the dog for a walk while she was to make him a bacon sandwich. He said he then returned home from the walk to discover his wife on fire.’
The couple met in the City while they both worked at banks and had two children who ‘mercifully’ were not present when their mother died.
The court heard Mrs Byrne, a full- time mother, had done ‘all she could to save and revive their marriage’ when she discovered her husband’s continued infidelity.
Byrne is expected to be sentenced later this week.
After the verdict Maria Byrne’s mother called for him to receive a whole life sentence and said she hoped he would ‘rot in eternal damnation’.
‘The utter devastation this has caused our family is indescribable and we feel immense pain. None more so than Maria’s two sons,’ she added.
Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Jennings described Byrne as a ‘ calculating and selfish’ killer.