Landowner will serve at least 18 years for murder (From Ledbury Reporter)

Landowner will serve at least 18 years for murder

9:17am Tuesday 9th February 2010

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

A WEALTHY landowner has been ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years in jail for the murder of his wife, whose body has never been found.

Adrian Prout was told by Mr Justice Davis that the “careful and considered” way in which the businessman had hidden his wife’s body was a “very, very aggravating factor” in the case.

Kate Prout, 55, a retired primary teacher, vanished more than two years ago from the £1.2 million farm she shared with her husband during acrimonious divorce proceedings.

Prout, 47, who owns a successful pipe-laying business and runs a commercial pheasant shoot, was found guilty of her murder on Friday.

At Bristol Crown Court, Mr Justice Davis said he could not rule out that other people helped Prout hide the body.

He told Prout: "A very, very aggravating factor in my mind is the careful and considered way in which you have concealed the body.”

He added: “How you killed her, is only known to you. You most probably did it by strangling her."

Prout’s fiancée, Debbie Garlick, 44, gave birth to a child days before the start of the trial. Prout’s daughter by a previous relationship, Laura, 19, has set up a website in an attempt to clear her father’s name.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)