Man who 'murdered' wife told medics she was 'alive and well' minutes earlier

19 June 2024 , 20:18

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Robert Hammond, 47, owed about £300,000, Cambridge Crown Court was told (Image: Terry Harris)

A debt-ridden mortgage broker accused of murdering his wife at their home told medics he had last seen her alive and well minutes before he called 999, a court has heard.

Prosecutors claim Robert Hammond, 47, faced “surging financial pressures” and had paid his wife Sian’s life insurance policy up to date days before her death. A post-mortem examination indicated Mrs Hammond had been strangled, prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC earlier told the trial at Cambridge Crown Court.

Hammond, who denied murder, called the ambulance service at 1.50am on October 30 last year and told the operator he had found his 46-year-old wife face down on the bed and not breathing. Air ambulance doctor Abilius Wong was among the medics who attended the couple’s home in Primes Corner, Histon, Cambridgeshire, arriving in a response vehicle at 2.06am.

Sian Hammond's body was discovered at a house in Primes Corner, Histon, Cambridgeshire (PA)

Hammond 'had eyes on the prize of Sian's life insurance payoff' (Terry Harris)

Dr Wong told jurors on Wednesday: “According to my memory, he (Hammond) told us he had last seen the patient (Mrs Hammond) well about 30 minutes before the 999 call was made.” Critical care paramedic Sally Boor, who attended in the car with Dr Wong, was asked by defence barrister Karim Khalil KC if Hammond may “in fact have said 30 to 60 and you noted the first bit and not the second bit”.

She replied that it was “unlikely but possible”. Ms Boor recalled that during CPR, blood had come up through one of the tubes inserted by medics into Mrs Hammond’s mouth. “It’s not typical for it to happen at such an early stage,” she said, adding: “It normally occurs after 20 to 30 minutes of resuscitation.”

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She said she had been told that Mrs Hammond had earlier taken diazepam, that was not her own, “because she was excited and nervous about her daughter coming back from Switzerland later that day”. Emergency care assistant Carl Clifton, who also attended the scene, was asked by prosecutor Mr Paxton if there was “ever any sign of life”.

“No, there was not,” he said, agreeing that Mrs Hammond was pronounced dead at 2.35am following CPR efforts. He said that eight medics attended the address to try to save Mrs Hammond.

The trial continues.

Sam Elliott-Gibbs