Michael Thompson Gets Life, 33-Year Minimum, for Wife's Rape and Murder

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 14

Judge Nirmal Shant KC jailed Michael Thompson, 56, for life with a minimum 33 years after he was convicted of raping and murdering his estranged wife Kimberley Thompson, 43, in Northampton in August 2025.
Prosecutors said Thompson suffocated her between midnight and 03:30, then staged a suicide scene with tablets, alcohol bottles, fake CPR and a distressed 999 call; jurors also convicted him on two counts of perverting the course of justice.
The six-week trial heard Kimberley had endured years of controlling and violent abuse, and that Thompson knew she had started a new relationship, planned to move out and sought about £65,000 in divorce proceedings.
A post-mortem found no alcohol in Kimberley's system, helping undermine social media posts sent in her name saying she had "drank too much" and prompting friends and family to press police to treat the death as murder.
At sentencing, Thompson refused to attend court as the couple's daughter told him, by video from the US, that "the day you killed my mother, you killed me too," while detectives said the case exposed about two decades of abuse.