A husband who murdered his wife and then spent years manipulating their young child to support his false story of self-defence has been jailed for life.
A Web of Lies Unravels
Robert Rhodes, 52, was sentenced to a minimum of 29 years and six months at Inner London Crown Court following a rare double jeopardy trial. He was convicted of the 2016 murder of his wife, Dawn Rhodes, at their family home in Redhill, Surrey, after their child bravely came forward with new evidence.
The court heard that Rhodes killed Dawn in the kitchen on 2 June 2016 after discovering she was having an affair and their marriage had ended. To cover his tracks, he inflicted a wound on his young child's arm and coached the child to claim that Dawn had attacked them both, and that he had acted in self-defence.
The Chilling Manipulation of a Child
This manipulative ploy initially succeeded, leading to Rhodes's acquittal at the Old Bailey in 2017. However, his web of lies collapsed four years later when the child, who had been under the age of ten at the time of the murder, confided the truth to a therapist and then went to the police.
The child revealed a horrifying premeditated plot. Rhodes had instructed them to tell Dawn to close her eyes and wait for a picture. As she stood unaware, Rhodes attacked her with a knife. He then maintained contact with the child while on bail, using a hidden phone to leave messages reminding them of the "agreement" to stick to the false story.
In a victim impact statement, the child said: "The traumatic experience Robert Rhodes has put me through will never go away. The scar Robert Rhodes left me with when he sliced open my forearm will never go away." They described suffering from PTSD, relationship difficulties, and problems at school.
Justice Served After a Decade
Rhodes was also found guilty of two counts of perjury, perverting the course of justice, and child cruelty. He refused to attend his sentencing hearing, with Mrs Justice Ellenbogen stating he could now add "cowardice" to his "wicked and callous" actions.
Dawn's mother, Liz Spencer, said in a statement: "I have waited nearly 10 years for this result. I don't look upon the result as justice, but I feel for the first time my daughter's voice is being heard."
Libby Clark from the Crown Prosecution Service praised the child's "immense bravery", stating the new evidence showed "just how much careful planning Robert Rhodes had put into murdering his wife". Detective Chief Inspector Kimball Edey said Rhodes had "irreparably damaged" his child's life in his "despicable" scheme to cover up the murder.
