The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Jury finds policeman guilty of killing wife
A police inspector who strangled his wife and dumped her body in a lake after she discovered he had applied for a loan in her name has been found guilty of murder.
Darren McKie, 43, admitted the manslaughter of Detective Constable Leanne McKie, nine days into his trial at Chester Crown Court, but on Friday a jury found him guilty of murder.
Her body was found in Poynton Lake, Cheshire, on September 29 last year.
In a statement, her parents Ray and Ellen Dodd said: “Justice has been served today. Our lives will never be the same again.
“There are no winners in this trial. We have lost our beautiful daughter and our grandchildren have lost their beloved mummy.”
The court heard friends described the couple, who had three children, as the “perfect family” but they were more than £115,000 in debt and McKie had been applying for loans in his and his wife’s names.
The jury was told they had spent £63,000 on renovations to their four-bedroom home in Wilmslow, Cheshire, in the months leading up to her death.
On the morning of her death Mrs McKie, who was apparently unaware of the debt, was at home when her passport and salary details, accessed from the police system by her husband, were returned after being used in an application for a £54,000 loan.
The court heard she sent text messages to her husband calling him a “liar” and asking: “Are we in such a mess?”
McKie left work early and returned home, arriving at the house in Burford Close by midday.
Ten minutes later he took a call from a surveyor due to value the house later that day.
Mrs McKie’s car, a red Mini Countryman, was seen being driven away from the property shortly after and when surveyor Anthony Parker arrived, at about 1pm, he saw McKie walking back to the house.
The prosecution alleged Mrs McKie’s body was in the boot of the car when it was driven away.
Pathologist Brian Rodgers said Mrs McKie had been strangled, with force equivalent to a karate chop.
After his arrest Mr McKie denied any knowledge of his wife’s death, only admitting her killing six months later when he changed his plea moments before his trial.