Man convicted of killing his wife in Croydon

07/03/2012

A man was found guilty on Tuesday 6 March 2012 at the Central Criminal Court of killing his wife during an incident at their home in Croydon.

49-year-old Gary Brockwell was convicted of murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to serve a minimum period of 12 years.

CPS London lawyer, Aisling Hosein, said:

"From the start of this prosecution Gary Brockwell admitted strangling his wife Gaynor during an argument at their home but he said he did not mean to harm her.

"It was for the Crown Prosecution Service to prove that he had intended to kill her or to cause her grievous bodily harm and to disprove the defence of loss of self-control.

"The jury, by their verdict, were satisfied that he did intend to cause his wife - at the very least - grievous bodily harm when he strangled her.

"Domestic violence is unacceptable and the Crown Prosecution Service will prosecute cases of this type robustly."

The incident happened in the early hours of Saturday 8th October 2011. The defendant and victim were the only people at their home in Chelsham Common. They had been out drinking but were reported throughout the night to have been in good spirits and there appeared to be no tension between them.

The defendant said that, after returning home, the victim told him that she had been having an affair and that she wanted a separation. He said that he became very angry and grabbed her. He claimed that the victim taunted him and he then strangled her. He said that he had not meant to kill her but that the killing resulted from his loss of self-control.