Man who sent texts from dead wife’s phone after storing her body in a freezer sentenced for murder

A man has been handed a life sentence after he murdered his wife with a hammer and stored her body in a chest freezer in the family home.

David Barraclough (14.8.1980) murdered Carolann Barraclough, a mother of three, in February this year. He then attempted to conceal what he had done for several weeks, even sending messages to Carolann’s family and friends from her phone telling them she was in hospital and recovering from an illness.

Two weeks after Carolann was last seen alive, Barraclough went to a local police station, where he told a receptionist, “I’ve killed my wife.” Despite initially attempting to portray himself as a victim, Barraclough pleaded guilty to murder on the first day of his trial.

Today he was sentenced to 22 years and 1 month.

Jill May, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS Yorkshire & Humberside, said: “David Barraclough tried to paint himself as a victim of domestic abuse who had no choice but to kill his wife and was heartbroken by what had happened. The evidence told a very different story.

“After brutally murdering Carolann, Barraclough hid her body in the home she shared with her children and lied repeatedly to her friends and family as he spun a calculated web of lies, pretending she was alive and recovering from illness in hospital. His actions in the weeks after her death, including downloading dating apps and taking out large sums of money from their joint account, were blatantly not those of a man in mourning.

“Working closely with West Yorkshire Police, we reviewed vast quantities of CCTV, phone evidence, financial records and witness accounts to build a compelling picture of Barraclough’s guilt. I am also particularly grateful to Carolann’s eldest daughter, who displayed incredible bravery in providing vital evidence for our case at what would have been a deeply traumatic time.

“Our thoughts remain with Carolann’s children, family and friends for all they have had to suffer. I hope today’s outcome can bring them some sense of justice.”

Building the case

On 5th March 2026, David Barraclough attended Normanton Police Station and confessed to having killed his wife. When officers arrived at his address, they found Carolann Barraclough’s body in a chest freezer on the ground floor of the home they had shared.

It was the prosecution’s case that, sometime between 19th and 21st February 2026, Barraclough had murdered his wife with a hammer. Barraclough carefully tied up Carolann’s body and neatly stored it in the utility room of their house. He then began to cover up what he had done by telling lies to those closest to her, including her children.

Barraclough repeatedly told Carolann’s friends, family and neighbours that she was in hospital and only he was able to go and visit her. He faked messages from her phone telling them she would be home soon, barred the children from the room containing the freezer and later reset her phone to factory settings to cover his tracks.

During this time, he was also regularly seen on CCTV frequenting local pubs and was later found to have downloaded the dating app Tinder just two days after murdering Carolann. Bank records also showed that he had withdrawn substantial sums of cash from the joint bank account he had shared with her.

When Barraclough eventually went to the police and confessed to what he had done, he claimed to be “heartbroken”, “in a haze” and “confused”. The Crown’s case, based on the evidence, was that this was not the behaviour of a heartbroken man, but rather of one who was perfectly happy going about his life as normal. Barraclough also alleged that Carolann had struck him with a hammer and that he had acted in self-defence, but CCTV showed no visible injuries to his face or body around the time of her death.