Wife found guilty of stabbing husband to death and burying body in garden

13 March 2025, 21:04 | Updated: 13 March 2025, 21:50

A woman has been found guilty of murdering her husband and hiding his body in their garden.

Jeremy Rickards, 65, was found dead behind their property in Canterbury on July 11 last year, police said.

On Thursday at Canterbury Crown Court, Maureen Rickards, 50, was found guilty of murdering Mr Rickards.

A post mortem showed Jeremy had been strangled weeks before his death and that he was also recovering from recent rib fractures.

A family member reported Mr Rickards missing six days before his body was discovered at the property on St Martin's Road.

A search was launched and his wife claimed he had died on June 9 in Saudi Arabia after travelling there to work, Kent Police said.

However, officers found no evidence of him leaving the country.

The last record of Mr Rickards being alive was him topping up his phone on June 8, police said.

The Crown Prosecution Service South East said Jeremy was last seen on 7 June and, after he was killed, a tenant heard something heavy being hauled down the stairs at night and saw the defendant in the garden.

Pathology information and the final sighting of Mr Rickards led detectives to believe he was murdered on or around June 9.

'Horrific murder'

Senior investigating officer, Detective Inspector Colin McKeen, said: "This was a horrific murder of a man who we believe had been a supportive husband to his wife, despite her violence towards him.

"Sadly, our investigation suggests that, rather than being a one-off incident, Maureen Rickards had attacked her husband on a number of occasions before this fatal assault."

He added: "She has never expressed any remorse for what she did and has repeatedly sought to frustrate the investigation and push blame onto others, including the victim himself."

Mr Rickards was reported missing on July 5 and officers said during their search they discovered CCTV of Rickards using his bank card in shops between June 20 and 30.

She was arrested for fraud on July 11 and police searched their property.

Mr Rickards' body was found in the garden with five stab wounds to his chest, Kent Police said.

He also had non-fatal injuries sustained about 10 days before he died and others believed to be from at least five weeks earlier, the force added.

Rickards was arrested on suspicion of murder and a murder probe was launched.

Police said they discovered Mr Rickards had been seen with bruising on his face in a Canterbury pub on May 17, and told a staff member he had been in a car accident.

Video clips on Rickards' phone between the end of May and the beginning of June "showed her shouting at her husband and recorded the sounds of her beating him", according to the force.

Other tenants in the building where they lived saw Jeremy injured and described him as being in a vulnerable state with some reporting shouting and sounds consistent with someone or something being hit, the CPS added.

On one occasion, when asked about his injuries, he said “Maureen was in a bad mood with me”.

Gardeners had visited the property on June 26 and Rickards asked them to "leave the grass they had cut under some bushes", police said.

Mr Rickards' body was later found in that location. His body is thought to have been stored in a cupboard wrapped in bin bags, put into a large canvas bag and hidden under grass cuttings at the bottom of the garden.

Pools of blood found inside the cupboard and on the floor beneath it were consistent with the victim lying on it. Stains also appeared on the ceiling of the flat below.

Attempts had been made to remove blood from the upper side of the carpet in the bedroom and Maureen had purchased cleaning products on 20 June, using her husband’s bank card.

'Seen through her lies'

DI McKeen added: "The jury has seen through her lies and she will now spend many years in prison.

"This case shows that domestic abuse, whether committed by a man or a woman, can escalate and become fatal and I urge anyone who is experiencing violence at the hands of their partner to report it to the police.

"We will listen to you, support you, and take action to protect you from harm."

Jurors deliberated for just more than six hours and Rickards will be sentenced on April 9.