The woman was guilty of having killed husband and hid the body in the garden

A woman has been guilty of murdering her husband after killing him and buried his body in their garden in England.

The body of Jeremy Rickards, 65, was found in a duffle bag in the garden in the home which he shared with his wife Maureen, 50, in Canterbury, Kent, in June 2024. He had been stabbed to death, according to The Crown prosecution.

Jeremy and his wife of 27 years lived in a building with other tenants-he was seen last June 7, 2024. His death was determined to have occurred between June 8-26, according to CPS.

CPS reported that after Jeremy’s death “heard a tenant” something heavy that is pulled down the stairs at night “and saw Maureen in the garden. The neighbor Oksana Kandaurova told the court that she noticed an smell” from debris or an animal like “while standing up her garden on June 14, Per BBC News.

Maureen was convicted of murder after a trial at Maidstone Crown Court on March 13.

The defendant used his husband’s bank card to shop and buy cleaning products after his disappearance. She then announced her daughter from her phone – first and said he had traveled to Saudi Arabia and, in a later message, that he planned to take his own life. This caused daughter “worry” and she reported that her father was missing the police, says CPS.

The authorities established that Jeremy’s body “was originally placed in a cabinet” in his wife’s bedroom when blood pools were found in the cabinet and on the floor below “in accordance with the victim lying on it.” Stains also appeared on the roof of the apartment below.

The body “was then wrapped in paper bags” and placed in “a large tablecloth and hid under grasslands at the bottom of the garden.” Maureen’s DNA was also found on one of the trade boxes that the body was wrapped to lead to her arrest, says CPS.

An aftermall showed that the victim suffered domestic abuse in the hands of his wife when he seemed to have been “suffocated weeks before” and had “recently rib fractures.” Witnesses also claimed that they saw the victim with cuts and bruises in the face before his death.

CPS used evidence from a recording made by the defendant for her who beat her husband to prove her abuse against him before his death. In the recording, she said she “will hurt him or kill him.”

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James Fisher from CPS South East said in a statement that the defendant built “a web of lies” to cover her husband’s murder and called her “a cold addict” who “exposed Jeremy to unthinkable pain and suffering.”

“She exposed her partner to a campaign with continued abuse before murdering him,” he said. “… Maureen lied about the cruelty and violence she added to Jeremy … (she) has never taken responsibility for her actions, nor showed any regret to murder Jeremy.”

“… despite her efforts to hide what she had done; Maureen has today been brought to trial for her husband’s brutal murder. Our thoughts remain with Jeremy’s family and friends at this difficult time. ”

The defendant will be sentenced on April 9 Per BBC News.