Man’s murder plot comes to light years after wife’s killing | UK | News

A husband who fatally stabbed his wife before chillingly manipulating their young child to escape justice now faces life imprisonment.

Robert Rhodes, 52, of Withleigh, killed his wife Dawn in the kitchen in 2016 after discovering she was having an affair with a colleague.

He carefully planned the murder and tricked his children under the age of 10 into helping and supporting his elaborate fabrication of events.

Following the murder, Rhodes misled police and the courts into believing that he had inflicted the fatal wound in self-defense when his wife attacked him. The plan was successful and he managed to get an acquittal of murder at the Old Bailey trial in 2017.

But in 2021, her child confided in a therapist, revealing that they were forced to support Rhodes’ lies as part of a plan to “get rid of the mummy.” The father was subjected to a rare double jeopardy second murder trial and was convicted by a jury in December last year after new evidence emerged.

Rhodes will be sentenced to life imprisonment when Lady Judge Ellenbogen delivers the verdict at Inner London Crown Court on Friday, January 16, according to PA. As well as the murder conviction, Rhodes was also found guilty of two counts of perjury at the Old Bailey hearing and the Family Courts in 2018 for providing false evidence, perverting the course of justice and cruelty to children.

Rhodes killed his wife on June 2, 2016, following divorce proceedings. The child, whose name cannot be given for legal reasons, called 999 at 19.34 and claimed that his wife attacked him and his children with a knife.

Dawn Rhodes was found with her throat slit on the kitchen floor of their Redhill home in Surrey. Rhodes immediately began making up a false story, telling officers that he hit his wife twice in the back of the head.

At his first trial, he described her as attacking him after “flipping like the Hulk”.

To lend credibility to his story, the father stabbed himself with a knife and cut off the child’s arm; he attributed these injuries to his wife. The alleged killer believed he had escaped justice when a jury acquitted him in 2017.

However, the truth began to emerge when the boy told a therapist that he had been manipulated and then contacted the police. Rhodes had recruited the teenager into his conspiracy and coached them to corroborate his version of events.

After his second arrest for murder, he told officers ominously that he “thought this was going to bite me.” The previous acquittal on the murder charge was overturned in the Court of Appeal and the Crown Prosecution Service received permission from senior judges to bring the case to a second trial.

The child’s testimony was crucial to the new case. They explained that Rhodes remained in contact while he was out on bail in 2016 and 2017 and that they instructed them to go along with the plan.

The father continued to manipulate his child by hiding his mother’s mobile phone in his house and leaving messages reminding the child of their agreement. The boy, Dawn Rhodes, was instructed to close his eyes and wait to take a photo.

As he left the room, Rhodes attacked his wife with a knife, who was standing with her eyes closed, unaware of the impending attack. Libby Clark, of the CPS, said: “The new evidence given by the child witness was extremely shocking and showed how carefully Robert Rhodes planned to kill his wife.”

“He abused a young child before the murder, explaining his plan to cover up the truth and make it look like Dawn had attacked him, so he could claim he was acting in self-defense. This included Rhodes injuring the little boy’s arm.

“He continued to maintain his web of lies in the intervening years. Robert Rhodes was eventually brought to justice for Dawn’s murder, thanks to his enormous courage in coming forward to reveal exactly what happened that night, something he mistakenly thought he could get away with.”

“None of us can even imagine what Rhodes put the boy through all those years. But now, as a result of their evidence, Dawn is now remembered correctly by everyone – as the victim of her abusive partner.”

Detective Chief Inspector Kimball Edey, of Surrey and Sussex Police’s major crime squad, said: “At the first trial Dawn was portrayed as the villain but in fact she was the victim of domestic abuse and coercive control at the hands of her husband for years.

“The fact that Rhodes not only murdered his wife in cold blood, but then manipulated and raised his own child to play a part in his evil plan and cover up what he had done is simply despicable; not only did he take a life, he irreparably damaged the life of another and everyone who loved Dawn.”

The Devon man contested all charges against him at his second trial. On Friday, Rhodes will be sentenced to life in prison for murder, and the judge will determine the minimum term Rhodes must serve before being eligible for release on license.