Father-of-two jailed for strangling wife in bed

A MAN who strangled his wife in bed by using a rolling pin to tighten a noose around her neck has been jailed for life.

Stephen Barnsdale-Quean, 43, then cut himself and dripped blood over the body, to make it look as if his 35-year-old wife Chantelle had attacked him.

The father-of-two denied murdering his wife at the flat they shared in Darfield, Barnsley.

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He told police she had “frenziedly” attacked him and then took her own life on March 4, this year.

But the prosecution were able to prove that Mrs Barnsdale-Quean could not have killed herself.

A Sheffield Crown Court jury took four hours to find Barnsdale-Quean guilty.

Jailing him for life with a minimum term of 18 years, Judge Julian Goose said: “I am satisfied that you thought through and planned the way you killed your wife.”

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Jurors heard the couple had been married for ten years but had suffered ill health and debt problems.

The couple met in Sheffield in 1999 and married in July 2003.

After the hearing Susan Benson, the victim’s mother said: “We are satisfied with the sentence but unfortunately it will not bring Chantelle back.

“We have had to listen to a suggestion that Chantelle committed suicide when we know she had everything to live for, especially her two beautiful daughters.”

Detective Inspector Kevin Brown said: “No motive has come out whatsoever which has made it difficult for us.”

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