Eastbourne father-of-two found guilty of murdering his estranged wife

A father-of-two who was obsessed with money has been found guilty of stabbing his estranged wife to death.

A jury took just one hour to find Raymond Hoadley guilty of murder.

Hoadley stabbed his estranged wife Jackie, 58, with a pair of scissors some time after forcing her to sign a contract giving him £1m if she died, Lewes Crown Court heard.

He attacked her while she slept in the room next to their severely disabled daughter, in the family’s Broad Oak Close home.

The nine-year-old, who is blind and cannot walk, called out for help when her carer arrived more than 12 hours after the murder, the court heard.

The couple had adopted two severely disabled children and lived in a specially adapted £300,000 house in Eastbourne.

Savings, investments and a £300,000 criminal injury payout for their daughter brought their total wealth to more than £1m.

Hoadley was terrified his wife would meet somebody else and he would be cut off from the money and property when they divorced, the court heard.

His wife asked him to leave the family home after he tried to overdose on pain medication prescribed for their son, the jury was told.

The jury were told he had spent time in a mental health unit before returning to Eastbourne and moving into a bedsit near the seafront.

Hoadley was obsessed with the price of food and would regularly shoplift rather than pay what he thought were high prices, the court heard.

He was unpopular with the others in his shared house who thought he was stealing their milk and food from the fridge.

Police said they found hundreds of pairs of scissors in the family home and Hoadley’s bedsit.

Forensic examiners found a bloody print at the scene with a full match for Raymond Hoadley, the court heard.

Hoadley washed himself and the murder weapon in a bathroom at the house before driving to the seafront where he threw it into the sea.

A beachcomber found a pair of plastic-handled scissors washed up on the same beach a month later, the court heard.

Hoadley drove a distinctive van adapted to carry wheelchairs which was spotted on CCTV and dash cam footage from a taxi heading towards the family home late on July 4 last year.

Despite all the evidence, Hoadley was so confident he would get away with murder, he asked court staff if Sussex Police would pay for a taxi home when he was acquitted.

Jackie was a well-respected campaigner for disabled rights.

She successfully lobbied to change the law on providing free sanitary products for families caring for children with complex needs.

Tributes were paid after her body was found at the family home in Eastbourne on July 5 last year.

Hoadley did not give evidence at his trial and Caroline Carberry QC for the Crown told the jury the death of his estranged wife was ‘needless, brutal and untimely’.

She was a loving mother and cherished friend who was strangled, beaten and stabbed by her husband who was worried about losing money when they divorced, Ms Carberry said.

A woman in the next door bedsit to Mr Hoadley described a chilling foretelling of what was to come when she heard him on the phone to his wife a month before her body was found.

“His angry and aggressive words were heard through the walls. “‘I’m going to kill you I’m going to strangle you’,” Ms Carberry said.

He will be sentenced in February.

In a statement, Jackie Hoadley’s family said: “Jackie was an exceptional lady who will be missed by all who knew and loved her.

“We would like everyone to focus on the achievements of her life especially the positive impact she has made for disability awareness and not for the tragic circumstances surrounding her death.”

DCI Andy Wolstenholme of Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team said: “We welcome the jury decision to convict Raymond Hoadley of the murder of his wife.

“It was a brutal and calculated attack and one that Raymond Hoadley consistently denied any involvement with.

“He sought to disguise his guilt in a web of lies with a thin veneer of truth.

“However, police, prosecution and ultimately jury were able to see through those lies and hold him to account for the terrible, terrible crime he committed.

“Jacqueline leaves behind two children who she absolutely adored and spent her life caring for and it is our hope her memory will live on with those children and her wonderful family who have been so supportive thoughout this entire investigation and trail.”