An abusive wife who strangled her husband and stabbed him to death before burying his body under a pile of grass clippings in their overgrown garden has been jailed for 22 years.
Maureen Rickards, 50, had tried to pretend geologist Jeremy Rickards had left the country for Saudi Arabia and taken his own life in a bid to cover her tracks.
But the 65-year-old’s decomposing remains were found by police wrapped in bin bags in a canvas bag in the garden on 11 July last year after their daughter reported him missing.
On Wednesday, Rickards, a law student, was jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years, after a jury at Canterbury Crown Court last month unanimously found her guilty of his murder.
Judge Mr Justice Kerr said video clips taken by Rickards during their 27-year marriage showed her abusing, beating and mocking her husband.
Jailing her in her absence, the judge said: "Your videos also clearly show you threatening Jeremy, abusing him, using violence on him, and expressing an intention to kill him. He was in frail health and largely defenceless against you.
"Your voice can be heard in the background, threatening to kill him.”
He said Mr Rickards had suffered five stab wounds, including two which pierced his heart. His body is thought to have been stored in an attic room cupboard in the flat and later moved to the garden.
The trial heard how she had directed oblivious gardeners to dump grass under her shrubs at their home knowing it would help cover his body.
Senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Colin McKeen of Kent Police said: “This was a horrific murder of a man who we believe had been a supportive husband to his wife, despite her violence towards him.
“Sadly, our investigation suggests that, rather than being a one-off incident, Maureen Rickards had attacked her husband on a number of occasions before this fatal assault.”
After the murder, Rickards messaged their daughter using her husband’s phone to say he had arrived in Saudi Arabia in a bid to cover her tracks. Their daughter was concerned about the style of messages and asked if her mother had taken over her father’s phone.
She eventually reported her father missing after she received a message from her mother claiming he had taken his own life in Saudi Arabia.
Rickards was arrested for fraud six days later after she used her husband’s bank card to buy cleaning products. Officers searching the home in St Martin’s Road, Canterbury, found Mr Rickard’s body in the holdall after being alerted by an "overpowering odour" that "made them feel ill".
However the killer kept up the act, asking: “What body?”
In addition to the stab wounds, Mr Rickards was found to have been strangled and suffered other injuries associated with a campaign of domestic abuse.
Shortly before his death he had been seen with bruising to his face in a local pub and had told a concerned member of staff he had been in a car accident.
The husband and wife lived in a private property and other tenants in the building saw Mr Rickards injured and described him as being in a vulnerable state, with some reporting shouting and sounds consistent with someone or something being hit.
When asked about his injuries on one occasion, he responded: “Maureen was in a bad mood with me.”
Detectives believe Rickards murdered her husband on or around 9 June 2024. Neighbours later reported hearing something heavy being hauled down the stairs and saw the killer in the garden.
Pools of blood found inside the cupboard where he was hidden had spread with bloodstains also appearing on the ceiling of the flat below.
DI McKeen added: “Maureen Rickards carried out the vicious murder of her husband Jeremy before attempting to hide his body in their garden.
“She then sought to frustrate the investigation and has repeatedly refused to admit what she did, forcing a trial at which a jury saw through her deception. She will now serve many years in prison.
“I cannot imagine how difficult this investigation and trial has been for Mr Rickards’ family and I only hope that the conclusion of the case gives them some comfort as they continue to grieve.”
