Husband who raped and murdered wife before trying to make it look like suicide jailed for 33 years

A former amateur boxer who raped and murdered his estranged wife then staged a ‘suicide scene’ to trick police into thinking she had taken her own life was today jailed for a minimum of 33 years.

‘Coercive and controlling’ Michael Thompson, 56, suffocated his ex, Kimberley Thompson, 43, a civil servant and award-winning basketball coach, in bed in the middle of the night last August.

He was angry that the mother-of-two had started seeing someone else and had demanded an ‘inflated’ divorce settlement, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Thompson claimed he and Mrs Thompson had consensual sex before she overdosed on pills.

But a jury rejected his version of events and found that he had been watching sex videos while ‘stewing’ over her new relationship before murdering her.

Following the guilty verdicts, it emerged that another of Thompson’s former partners – Rhonda Anderson – had also died in suspicious circumstances 26 years earlier, in July 2000.

Police re-examined the circumstances surrounding the death of the 29-year-old, who was found electrocuted in the bath, with an electric radio in the water beside her – and even arrested Thompson on suspicion of Ms Anderson’s murder.

But Northamptonshire Police said the investigation had since been closed due to ‘insufficient evidence’.

Today a judge jailed Thompson, a father-of-four, for life and ordered he serve at least 33 years in prison before being eligible for parole.

However, Thompson was not present at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday to hear his fate. His defence barrister Jonas Hankin KC said he was ‘voluntarily absent’. 

Despite this, Judge Nirmal Shant KC spoke directly to ‘cowardly’ Thompson as he handed down his sentence, telling him: ‘You have shown no remorse. Throughout the course of the trial you sat in the dock shaking your head and making audible noises of dissent.

‘And in the ultimate act of cowardice and contempt, you have refused to come into court to hear from the family of the grief you have caused.’

Turning to Thompson’s crimes, Judge Shant said after raping and killing Mrs Thompson he set ‘about creating a false scene to confuse the police, constructing a scene that she had taken her own life.’

‘You were literally trying to get away with murder,’ the judge said. 

‘You pretended to perform CPR and feigned distress. 

‘She (Mrs Thompson) was, at the time you killed her on the eve of a new start, leaving you behind and continuing the new relationship.

‘She adored her children and the fact she was about to start a new life. You deprived her of that.’

In a heart-breaking victim impact statement, which she read herself on a videolink from the US, where she is studying and playing basketball, the couple’s 18-year-old daughter, Athena, said losing her mother had left her feeling like there was no point to her life.

She said she wanted the world to know she was ‘the most loving, kind, thoughtful person to exist.’

‘She is the best mum I could wish for,’ Athena said.

‘I was supposed to make countless more memories with her. 

‘She was the one person who filled me with happiness effortlessly, and that I could rely on. She was my rock, and I was hers. 

‘Losing my mum in such a violent and senseless way has completely destroyed my world. 

‘I am in constant pain. I’m living a life I don’t care for anymore. At 18 years old, I feel like there is no point in living.’

Members of the jury, who returned to court for the sentencing hearing, wept as Athena added: ‘She did not deserve to have her life stripped from her by a vile, toxic person.

‘I want to hug her and tell her I love her, but you took her from me. 

‘I am wondering how and why you could do such an evil, selfish, malicious thing?

‘How could you murder the mum of your own children? 

‘You couldn’t stand the fact she had so many people that cared about her. You are the most jealous, conniving, narcissistic villain possible.’

Athena also said she could remember sitting at the top of the stairs as a child listening to Thompson ‘degrade her mother in the most awful way’ with ‘disgusting, vile words’, before crying into her pillow. 

She added: ‘No amount of years rotting in prison will be enough. You are a pathetic, unloved man.

‘The day you killed my mum, you killed me too. My life will never be the same. I will never be able to plan my future with her.’

Athena said she’d had 150 counselling sessions and missed 124 lessons at school since the death of her mother, adding: ‘You have taken away my life from me when it has barely just started, and I can never get it back. 

‘You have no idea of the mental toll you have put on everyone. I lay at night questioning my purpose, because without my mum I no longer have one. 

‘You were meant to be my dad. How could you do this to your daughter? 

‘A dad is supposed to protect his child from pain, but you caused the worst pain of my life. You never loved me at all. If you did, you wouldn’t have done this to me.’

In her statement, which was read to the court by Miss Moore, Mrs Thompson’s mother, Christine Conway, described her ex-son-in-law as ‘the most evil person in the world.’

She said he was such a ‘danger’ that she ‘prayed’ he would die in jail.

‘You killed my daughter, then called me to the house,’ she said.

‘Life is not easy for any person, but you chose to murder my daughter and believed life would just carry on.

‘I pray you die in prison because you are a danger while out in the community. The world is a safer place with you behind bars.’

Two of Mrs Thompson’s sisters, Amanda and Dione, also paid tribute to her, describing their sibling as a loving mother whose loss had sentenced them to a life time of grief. 

‘We will never get over the loss and pain caused by this selfish act,’ Dione said. 

‘Christmases, birthdays, milestones, get-togethers, they will not be the same without our Kim. I miss her so much.’

While Amanda added: ‘Kim loved her children more than words can say. 

‘One of the most devastating aspects of Kim’s death is the impact it has had on her children. Not only have they lost their Mum, they have also lost the stability and security that every child deserves. 

‘They are now having to navigate their childhood and future without the love, guidance, support and reassurance of their mother.

‘No sentence will ever be long enough to reflect the pain, heartbreak and devastation caused. Our family has been left to live with a loss that can never be repaired. We have effectively been given a life sentence of grief.’

Mrs Thompson, a former East Midlands coach of the year, was found dead at the marital home in Northampton – where the pair were sleeping in separate bedrooms whilst the divorce was going through – on August 9, 2025.

But the police investigation was only declared a murder inquiry three days later – when Thompson was arrested – and it took more than a month to charge him.

The court heard obsessive Thompson snooped on his estranged wife by recording her phone calls and tracking her movements.

She was on the brink of moving into a new home that she had saved for for years when she was killed.

On the night of her death, Thompson sent messages from her phone suggesting she had been drinking but was caught out because they contained uncharacteristic spelling mistakes that she would never have made.

He also moved bottles of gin and vodka into the downstairs bedroom where her body was found, as well as empty strips of co-codamol tablets.

The court heard a picture of the couple on their wedding day and a montage of Mrs Thompson’s late sister, who committed suicide, were on the bed when paramedics and police arrived.

Jurors were told that, prior to dialling 999, Thompson sent himself a text message from Mrs Thompson’s phone suggesting she wanted sex.

The former bouncer, who had been working in the auto trade, told police he went downstairs and found Mrs Thompson, who was known as Kim, ‘merry.’

He claimed the pair had sex before he returned to his own room at 3.10am.

But prosecutor Miranda Moore KC said: ‘The prosecution case is she did not send (the message).’

The barrister said the text was an attempt to cover up the fact he had raped her, while his placement of the tablet packets and drink bottles were to suggest a suicide and to ‘cover up’ the murder.

Thompson told police he discovered his wife lying in an unnatural position when he went to get a drink. As he turned her over, vomit came out of her mouth, he said.

Officers initially ‘swallowed’ the scene Thompson had created, Ms Moore said, and ‘took the view that this was a drink and drugs incident – a suicide attempt or an unfortunate accident’.

Vital evidence – including a glass containing yellow liquid – wasn’t seized and Thompson was allowed to clean up the crime scene.

But toxicology later proved that Mrs Thompson had not been drinking and had only low levels of codeine and paracetamol in her blood.

A pathologist concluded that she had been smothered and died of an external airway obstruction.

The trial heard Mrs Thompson told friends of ‘physical, emotional abuse and controlling behaviour by Mr Thompson’ dating back years, and once sought help from a domestic violence unit.

She had met Thompson in 2001 when she was 19 and married him five years later.

But a childhood friend told jurors Mrs Thompson had doubts about the union on her own hen weekend.

Another friend, Danielle Harrison, told the court she had confided in her and another friend about physical assaults and a rape that Thompson had inflicted on her after she had an affair.

She said Mrs Thompson had said to her: ‘If anything happens to me. Please know it was him’.

The Thompsons had at one point worked alongside each other for the courts and tribunals service in Northampton – him in the post room, her in administration.

Jurors heard that, as well as Athena, who has represented her country at basketball, the couple have a 16-year-old son.

The pair were living ‘separate lives under the same roof’ at the time of the murder.

Mrs Thompson had spent the evening before her death speaking to her daughter in America on a video call and looking at flights to visit her.

Mrs Thompson formerly coached for Northants Basketball Club and had previously been a coach on the Basketball England talent pathway programme that works towards players getting into the national squad.

A fellow basketball coach who knew her told the Mail it was known on the basketball scene that the Thompsons’ marriage had been in difficulty as far back as 2020.

The source, who did not wish to be identified, said: ‘Kim had told me then that they were apart but I don’t know what led to them splitting up.

‘Kim was really nice. She loved her basketball, it was a big part of her life.’

Another source recalled meeting the Thompsons at a party and said: ‘Kim was talking to my partner and I, and other people and Michael was obviously not happy that he was being ignored. He caused a scene. A lot of people said, ”he’s always like that”.

In an apparent reference to Ms Anderson, the source added: ‘I think there was an issue with his previous partner, I have heard there were question marks over her death’.

Thompson was also convicted of two counts of perverting the course of justice at the end of the six-week trial.  Jurors deliberated for 11 hours and 38 minutes before finding him guilty.

Following the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Torie Harrison, from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said: ‘Today’s hearing comes almost a year since Kim’s life was so violently taken from her and follows almost two decades of domestic abuse. 

‘The last year has been unbearable for Kim’s family and friends, and I want to pay tribute to them and the grace they have shown throughout our investigation and particularly over the last six weeks. 

‘The level of abuse Kim was subjected to was horrific, and I want to take this opportunity to say to anyone who may be living a similar life that help is available.

‘We have specialist police officers who work with survivors of domestic abuse, including coercive control and physical abuse. There are also other organisations that also offer support and practical help if you don’t want to speak to the police. 

‘My plea to anyone who finds themself in this situation is to please ask for help, no one will judge you, but we can help you take that first step to becoming safe.’

In relation to the death of Thompson’s previous partner, Ms Anderson, DCI Harrison, of Northamptonshire Police, added: ‘Early in our investigation into Kim’s death we were told of the death of Michael Thompson’s former partner Rhonda Anderson, 29, who died in July 2000.

‘Rhonda’s death had been investigated at the time, and an inquest ruled it was accidental. However, after concerns were raised about the circumstances of Rhonda’s death and in light of what happened to Kim, we launched a fresh murder investigation.

‘As part of our enquiries we arrested Michael Thompson, 56, on suspicion of murder.

‘We also revisited reports from 25 years ago and issued a fresh appeal for anyone who may have known Rhonda at the time to contact us.

‘This work has now concluded, and it has been determined there is insufficient evidence to take the investigation further, with no further action being taken against Michael Thompson.’