A man in England has been found guilty of raping and murdering his estranged wife after prosecutors said he killed her, staged the scene to look like a suicide and then tried to cover his tracks.
Michael Thompson, 56, was convicted Wednesday following a six-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court in the death of his estranged wife, Kimberley Thompson, 43, according to Northamptonshire Police and the BBC.
Jurors found Thompson guilty of rape and murder, as well as two counts of perverting the course of justice for attempting to cover up both crimes, police said.
Prosecutors alleged Thompson raped and suffocated Kimberley sometime between midnight and 3:30 a.m. on Aug. 9, 2025, inside the Northampton home the former couple still shared, despite having separated two years earlier.
The pair had been married for 19 years and were in the process of divorcing. The court heard Kimberley had started a new relationship, was preparing to move out of the home and had requested about £65,000 as part of the divorce settlement, according to the BBC and Northamptonshire Police.
After killing Kimberley, prosecutors said Thompson staged her bedroom to make it look like she had taken her own life. He also posted messages on her social media accounts before calling East Midlands Ambulance Service at around 5:30 a.m., according to police.
Authorities were initially told Kimberley had consumed alcohol and tablets before she was found unresponsive, the BBC reported. But a post-mortem examination later found no alcohol in her system and only low levels of caffeine, paracetamol and codeine.
Kimberley’s loved ones immediately questioned the story they were being told. Her family and friends told investigators they did not believe she had died by suicide and described a history of domestic abuse throughout her marriage to Thompson. Police launched a murder investigation on Aug. 12.
“It became clear throughout our investigation that Kim had been subjected to domestic abuse for much of her relationship with Thompson, with manipulation, coercive control and physical violence the norm,” Detective Chief Inspector Torie Harrison, who led the investigation, said in a statement.
“Over the years Thompson stripped Kim’s confidence away but in the time since their separation, friends and family began to see the old Kim re-emerging with a renewed enthusiasm for life.”
Harrison said Thompson “brutally rape[d] and murder[ed]” Kimberley before spending time staging her death “in order to make people believe she had committed suicide.”
The detective also said the investigation revealed Kimberley had contacted a domestic abuse support service in 2013, but later withdrew her complaint because she was afraid of what might happen if she reported the abuse, according to police.
Thompson is scheduled to be sentenced next week, according to the BBC.
People seem to have no self esteem.