Father stabbed estranged wife to death after she changed her Facebook status to 'single'



A father stabbed his estranged wife to death in a 'frenzied attack' after discovering she had changed her Facebook status to 'single'.



Edward Richardson, 41, was high on a cocktail of cocaine and alcohol when he smashed his way into her parents' home and used a carving knife to kill 26-year-old Sarah Richardson as she lay in bed.



The carpenter stabbed his wife with such force he shattered her ribs. She also suffered puncture wounds to her liver and a slashed aorta.

Richardson was yesterday jailed for life after a jury took less than three hours to convict him of murder at Stafford Crown Court.

Sarah Richardson, 26, was stabbed to death by her estranged husband Edward Richardson after she changed her Facebook status to 'single'

Judge Simon Tonking ordered Richardson, of Biddulph, Stoke-on-Trent, to serve at least 18 years.



He told him: 'Whatever might have been in your mind before you entered that bedroom, the point came when you did intend to kill your wife.



'You subjected her to an attack which involved 13 stab wounds and 39 separate lacerations. It was an act of brutal mutilation.



'The effect of that act was to devastate an entire family, her parents, her brothers, her sister in law and young nieces.



'Her parents called her "the light of their life". By killing her in their home, you have violated their home of 40 years, where now, as far as Sarah's bedroom is concerned, they cannot bring themselves to go.'

Earlier, the court heard how the couple separated three weeks before the murder after arguments about the amount of money being spent on cocaine and father-of-two Richardson's refusal to have children with Sarah.



The kitchen knife Richardson used in the attack. He stabbed his wife with such force her ribs were broken

When Richardson discovered his estranged wife had changed her Facebook status to single, he drove to her parents Sandbach home with a knife and strips of black tape to muffle the sound of breaking glass.



After murdering Sarah, Richardson drove to a field and used the same knife to slash his wrists and throat.



Emergency services found Richardson in Fence Lane, Congleton, 40 minutes after the attack.



Detective Inspector Andy Wall, who led the police inquiry, said: 'Richardson had stopped a passer-by and asked them to call the police. He was taken to hospital and later arrested.



'During interviews he told police he knew he had stabbed his wife but couldn't remember the exact details of the assault.



'When he learned his wife had died he was upset.



'Mr Richardson was under an element of stress due to the break up of his marriage. But what he did was a brutal and calculated act.'



Sarah Richardson was in bed at her parents' home, above, when she was attacked

Fiona Cortese, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: 'We hope that today’s guilty verdict will go some way to easing the pain of Sarah’s friends and family after losing her in such a violent and abrupt way.'

Mrs Richardson's parents, Beryl and Alan Boote, issued a statement after the verdict.



'There simply aren’t the words to describe how Sarah’s death, and the awful way in which she died, has affected us,' they said.



'We miss her so much. Sarah was the loveliest daughter anyone could wish for. She was honest, loyal and sweet, and everyone loved her.'

Facebook, the 'social networking' website, allows people to advertise their current marital status.



Users can choose to list their relationship status as 'It's complicated' or 'In an open relationship' as well as more traditional options such as 'engaged or 'single'.



This is not the first time that a change in Facebook status has led to murder.



Last October, Wayne Forrester, 34, was jailed for a minimum of 14 years after hacking his wife to death with a meat cleaver in fury over her Facebook entry.



Forrester, drank alcohol and took cocaine before driving 15 miles to the family home to attack his wife 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.