Married To Single, Single To Dead

By Paul Cheston, Daily Mail

17 October 2008 - A husband who hacked his wife to death with a meat cleaver in fury over her Facebook entry was jailed for a minimum of 14 years at the Old Bailey today.

Wayne Forrester, 34, drank alcohol and took cocaine before driving 15 miles to the family home to attack wife Emma as she lay in bed.

The couple had separated four days before the murder in February and Forrester later told police he had been provoked by his wife changing her marital status to "single" on her Facebook entry, the court heard.

Forrester, a HGV driver, admitted murder in February this year in New Addington, near Croydon.

Emma was found in a pool of blood after neighbours were woken at 6.30am by her screams. Near her body was a large kitchen knife and in another room a blood-soaked meat cleaver.

Jailing him for life, the Common Serjeant of London Brian Barker QC said: "Your wife ended the relationship. Your reaction was one of anger and resentment.

"There is no possible excuse or justification.

"This is a tragic killing of a young woman and what you have done has called untold anguish."

The court heard that the Forresters had a "volatile and unstable marriage characterised by periods of separation and reconciliation".

Alex Lewis, prosecuting, said that while Forrester was in and out of work and cared little for family life, his wife took two jobs to make ends meet.

Her parents supported the pair financially and moved home closer to them to help their daughter. Four days before the murder Forrester moved out of the family home to stay with his sister in Paddington. He repeatedly called home and threatened to kill her.

Ms Lewis said: "He was angry about an entry on Facebook he said made him look like a fool as she had advertised her marital status as single. He accused her of having an affair."

Forrester drove to Croydon armed with the knife and meat cleaver and forced the front door open.

After neighbours called 999 he emerged from the house covered in blood and holding a carton of juice.

When the police arrived he held his arms out for handcuffs and told them: "Who called you? My wife is in there. I killed her."

Inside the house they found Mrs Forrester's body with a large wound in her neck. Two bannister rails had been broken off and there were clumps of long brown hair outside the bedroom.

She had multiple wounds to her neck and head and defence wounds to her arms showing she had fought to ward off the blows.

Forrester later handed detectives a prepared statement in which he said: "She forced me out of the family home and posted messages on the internet website telling everybody she had left me and was interested in meeting other men."

He went on: "The whole incident seemed a blur. I felt I was watching somebody else attacking Emma."

In an impact statement the victim's sister Eliza Rothery said the family had been devastated by the murder.

Peter Dahlsen, defending, said Forrester felt "a deeply held remorse".