Woman convicted of murdering husband

A woman has been found guilty of murdering her husband, after his body was found in a holdall in the garden of the property where they lived in Canterbury, Kent.

Jeremy Rickards, who was stabbed repeatedly in June 2024, was the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of his wife Maureen in the lead-up to his murder, with the post mortem showing he had been strangled weeks before his death and that he was also recovering from recent rib fractures.

Witnesses who saw him before his death and saw the extent of his injuries, including a large cut on his forehead and bruising to his eyes and ears, were so concerned that they urged him to get hospital treatment.

In the weeks following Jeremy’s disappearance, Maureen used his bank cards to go shopping in Canterbury, before messaging their daughter using the victim’s phone to say that her father had arrived in Saudi Arabia. Their daughter was concerned about the style of messages and asked if her mother had taken over her father’s phone.

After Maureen messaged her daughter to say that her father had taken his own life in Saudi Arabia, she reported her father as missing to the police. When they checked the garden of the property, they detected a smell in the garden and found the bag with the remains of Jeremy’s body.

When arrested, Maureen kept up the act, asking “what body?”

James Fisher from the Crown Prosecution Service South East said: “As we built the case against Maureen Rickards, we were able to unpick her web of lies, using forensic evidence and her actions before and after the murder, to paint the picture of a callous abuser, who subjected Jeremy to unimaginable pain and suffering.

“She subjected her partner to a campaign of sustained abuse, before viciously murdering him. The attacks on Jeremy became more severe in the run-up to his murder, leaving him frail, battered and bruised, with everyone who came into contact with him concerned for his wellbeing.

“Maureen lied about the cruelty and violence she inflicted on Jeremy and was quick to dismiss any concerns, even claiming the injuries had come from a car accident.

“Maureen has never taken responsibility for her actions nor shown any remorse for murdering Jeremy. He was subjected to an appalling attack, after which Maureen set about trying to hide the evidence, even lying to their family that he had killed himself in Saudi Arabia, while all the time his body lay hidden in their garden. 

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

Building the case 

Jeremy and Maureen lived in a private property and other tenants in the building saw Jeremy injured and described him as being in a vulnerable state with some reporting shouting and sounds consistent with someone or something being hit. On one occasion, when asked about his injuries, he said “Maureen was in a bad mood with me”.

Jeremy was last seen on 7 June and, after he was killed, a tenant heard something heavy being hauled down the stairs at night and saw the defendant in the garden.

Prosecutors used evidence from the forensic science of entomology, which studies the presence of insects and their life cycle, to help assist with when death occurred. This helped to narrow down the period of Jeremy’s death to 8 – 26 June and confirmed that his body was originally put in a cupboard in Maureen’s bedroom, before being wrapped in bin bags, put into a large canvas bag and hidden under grass cuttings at the bottom of the garden.

Pools of blood found inside the cupboard and on the floor beneath it were consistent with the victim lying on it. Stains also appeared on the ceiling of the flat below. Attempts had been made to remove blood from the upper side of the carpet in the bedroom and Maureen had purchased cleaning products on 20 June, using her husband’s bank card.

Maureen asked a handy man to cut the grass and to put the cuttings under the bushes, which helped to further cover the holdall.

Maureen’s DNA was found on one of the bin bags that the body was wrapped in, showing that she had handled it at some point.

She also recorded herself being aggressive to Jeremy and striking him, on one occasion saying she will do him harm or kill him.

Using this evidence, the Crown Prosecution Service was able to demonstrate to the jury the cruelty that Maureen showed Jeremy in the lead up to his death, and that she had killed him.