A former headteacher has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 31 years for the murders of his estranged wife and her lover on New Year's Day. Rhys Hancock, 40, killed Helen Hancock and Martin Griffiths at the former marital home in Duffield, Derbyshire, before calling police to confess.
Derby Crown Court heard that Hancock inflicted 66 injuries on his wife and 37 on Mr Griffiths using two kitchen knives taken from his mother's house. The prosecutor, Michael Auty QC, described the murders as premeditated, savage, and merciless, committed in the coldest of blood.
The court was told that Hancock had been on police bail at the time of the killings after allegedly assaulting his wife in October 2019. He pleaded guilty to two counts of murder at a previous hearing.
Sentencing Hancock, Judge Nirmal Shant QC said the murders were substantially premeditated and pre-planned, leaving two families bereaved and three children without a mother. The judge noted that no sentence could adequately fill the void left by the deaths.
Hancock's mother, Denise Hancock, had called 999 at 4.11am after her son left the house, warning police that he had taken knives and was on his way to the marital home. Hancock himself called 999 at 4.26am, stating, 'I have just stabbed them.' Police arrived two minutes later and arrested him outside the property.
