A man murdered his wife by strangling her and cutting her throat with a knife. Daniel White, 35, killed Angie White, 45, at their home at Idris Terrace, Plasmarl, Swansea on October 22 last year.
Swansea Crown Court heard how, just before 6am that day, South Wales Police received a phone call from White telling the operator how he had savagely killed his partner. Police attended the scene and discovered Mrs White dead within the bedroom, with injuries later described by doctors as sharp force trauma to the neck and a severed jugular vein.
A knife, described as a "lock style knife"' was found on the bed, the Mirror reports. The court heard statements provided to police by neighbours, including one account from a woman who heard "loud and repetitive" banging then screaming from next door in the early hours of the morning.
The woman explained how at 2am she went to bed, remaining awake watching YouTube videos on her laptop. She heard persistent screaming from a female voice sounding "very distressed". Another neighbour heard raised male and female voices, with the male voice being more prominent.
White told officers on the 999 call: "I killed my wife earlier, and I left, I had gone to see someone and then left so I could hand myself in. I strangled her, cut her throat, she's dead.
Various Amazon devices with the Alexa voice command function were located around the couple's home, which through several commands voiced by White, helped investigators piece together a timeline of when the murder happened. The court heard how after murdering Mrs White, he did not call for an ambulance for three hours, instead going to visit another woman to say goodbye to her, before eventually calling police and admitting what he had done.
White, who previously pleaded guilty to murder, did not attend Swansea Crown Court to hear the proceedings being carried out. Judge Paul Thomas KC sentenced White to a minimum prison sentence of 20 years and 10 months.
The judge, who sentenced him in his absence, said: "He does not have the courage to face the family and friends of the woman whose life he so brutally ended. Those people, her family and friends, have been utterly devastated by her murder."
In a statement released after the sentencing, Angie’s family said: “Angie was a much-loved daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, and auntie. At the time of her death Angie was nearing the completion of her degree in Humanities, a degree which would have enabled her to continue to help others. Nothing can bring our beloved Angie back. We shall miss that silly giggle for evermore.
“Daniel White admitted his guilt but continued to use his manipulative behaviour to delay the outcome: claims of extenuating circumstances, missed court and video appearances. Even today at sentencing he deliberately absences himself in what we see as his continuing attempts to control this situation and his cowardness in avoiding facing us and justice for what he did for Angie.
"We are grateful for the sturdy and watertight case presented by South Wales Police detectives which has led to him to face his full punishment. We would like to thank the investigation team for all their efforts."
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