Man who killed ex-partner with over 60 injuries in 'particularly brutal murder' has sentence increased

Robert Richens inflicted more than 60 blunt force injuries on 40-year-old Rachael Vaughan when he murdered her in her home in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in May 2025, following a violent and controlling relationship.

The "merciless" killer was captured on bodycam footage during his arrest sobbing as he lamented "I'm going to miss GTA and that."

An officer asks him: "Which GTA, what are you talking about Robert?" to which he replies "Six".

The officer then says "You've got ages for that" to which Richens admits "I'm going to get life".

Richens, 35, was ordered to serve at least 16 years and one month behind bars in February this year at Oxford Crown Court after admitting Ms Vaughan’s murder.

The Solicitor General referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal, with barristers telling a hearing on Thursday that it was “unduly lenient” as the sentencing judge failed to take sufficient account of aggravating features in the case, and reduced the sentence too much to take account of Richens’ learning disabilities.

Barristers for Richens, who attended the hearing via a video link from HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire, said that the sentence was not unduly lenient and should remain unchanged.

At the end of the hearing in London, three senior judges increased the minimum term to 19-and-a-half years.

In a ruling, Lord Justice Males, sitting with Mrs Justice Cutts and Judge Sylvia de Bertodano, said that the sentence could not be increased “unless we were satisfied that the judge reached a conclusion… that was outside the range that was reasonably open to him”.

But he concluded: “We are so satisfied in this case.

“This was a particularly brutal murder, with a host of aggravating factors.”

The judge said that Ms Vaughan was “particularly vulnerable because of her various disabilities”.

He continued that evidence of Richens’ learning disabilities “does not justify any conclusion that these difficulties lessened, materially or indeed at all, the offender’s culpability”.

He said: “The fact of learning disabilities or other intellectual difficulties does not necessarily mean that an offender’s culpability is reduced.

“Many people with such problems manage to lead perfectly satisfactory and law-abiding lives.”

'Controlling and violent'

Lord Justice Males said that Richens and Ms Vaughan began a relationship in 2023, but that Richens was “controlling and violent towards her” with “multiple instances of such violence”, including punching, strangling and striking.

While Ms Vaughan tried to leave him on several occasions, “unfortunately she always went back, and the treatment of her continued”, the judge said, adding: “It is a story that makes for most unhappy reading.”

He continued that Richens and Ms Vaughan were seen together on the evening of May 29 last year, before Richens launched a “brutal and sustained attack”, including punching her, kicking her, and hitting her with an implement, causing a traumatic brain injury and multiple bone fractures.

'Extreme violence'

After attempting to clean the property, Richens called the police the next morning and said that he believed he had accidentally killed someone and that he had no memory of the incident, but pleaded guilty to murder in December.

In written submissions on behalf of the Solicitor General, Peter Ratliff said that in the days before the killing, Ms Vaughan had sought refuge with a friend, with whom Richens believed she had engaged in sexual relations.

He continued that the “appropriate minimum term was significantly longer than the 16 years and 1 month identified”.

In court, Mr Ratliff said that Richens had made a “concerted effort” to conceal his crime, and that the murder involved “extreme violence”.

Andrew Selby KC, for Richens, said the reduction for his learning disabilities was “modest” and “calibrated”, and that the sentencing judge, Ian Pringle KC, “did not err in his ultimate findings”.

He said: “If the sentence imposed was lenient, and we submit it was not, it was certainly not unduly lenient.”

The Attorney General Ellie Reeves KC MP said: “Robert Richens brutally murdered Rachael Vaughan in her own home, the place where she should have been safest.

“Rachael was subjected to relentlessly controlling and abusive behaviour. I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to increase Richens’ sentence.

"Domestic murder destroys lives and sentences must reflect the horror of such crimes.”