Overview
- The court sentenced Michael Thompson to life with a minimum term of 33 years on Tuesday after jurors unanimously convicted him of rape, murder and two counts of perverting the course of justice.
- Jurors found he suffocated 43-year-old Kimberley Thompson at the Northampton home they still shared and then arranged pill packets, bottles of alcohol and family photographs to suggest she had taken her own life.
- A post-mortem showed no alcohol and only low levels of caffeine, paracetamol and codeine in her body, evidence the prosecution used to rebut the defendant’s claim that she had been drunk or taken an overdose.
- Trial evidence described years of controlling and violent behaviour, including hundreds of hours of secret recordings, and the judge said Thompson showed no remorse when he refused to attend sentencing.
- Northamptonshire Police said their review of the 2000 death of Thompson’s former partner Rhonda Anderson found insufficient evidence to take further action and no new charges will follow.