Axeman killed wife for moving computer table

A RUGBY fan who axed his wife to death because she noisily moved a computer table was sentenced to life in prison yesterday.

Emrys Taylor, originally from Hengoed, near Caerphilly, murdered wife Lillian during her regular night-time phone call to her wheelchair-bound mother.

Moments after the killing he dialled 999 and confessed: “I’ve just killed my wife. I’ll go to prison for the rest of my life – it doesn’t matter.

“I’ve bashed her head in. There’s no need for an ambulance. Just take her straight to the morgue.”

As well as telling police he became annoyed because she’d disturbed him by moving a computer table, he also blamed his mother-in-law for driving him to murder.

Taylor met his wife through a shared love of rugby while he was on a trip to watch an international in Scotland.

They married in June 1999 and he moved to Mrs Taylor’s home village of Bonnyrigg, Midlothian.

But at the High Court in Edinburgh last month Taylor, 64, broke down as he admitted murdering her by striking her repeatedly on the head and face with an axe.

The court heard he resented the relationship Lillian, 43, had with her elderly mother Wilhemina Winter, whom she looked after for about 20 years.

While on the phone, Mrs Winter heard her daughter say: “Wait a minute Emrys, I’m speaking on the phone.”

Immediately after she heard a growl-type sound. She asked her daughter what the noise was but got no reply before shouting: “Are you there, Lillian?”

She told police she was extremely concerned and tried to contact her daughter on her mobile without success.

When Taylor later rang 999, he was told to check for a pulse. But he replied: “I’m not touching her – she’s dead. I’ve hit half her head off.”

During the call, he repeatedly made offensive remarks about Mrs Winter, 79. When police arrived they found a large bloodstained felling axe on the living room floor and blood spatters on several walls.

Lillian was in a chair with her feet resting on a table. Taylor told police: “I want to kill that b****** up there – her mother. I hit her with a hatchet.”

Lillian had severe head injuries, including multiple fractures to her skull, jaw and cheekbones.

Simon Collins, prosecuting, said: “These injuries were immediately fatal, there being no chance of survival. There were no obvious self-defence injuries.”

Mr Collins said it was likely that Taylor had gone out to a shed to get the axe to kill his wife. It would have taken several minutes because of the distance and the locks in the house.

The prosecutor said: “This murder has had a profound and devastating effect on all those who knew and loved the deceased.

“In particular, it has been a very difficult time for her parents, Mr and Mrs Winter, for whom the deceased was their pride and joy.”

The court heard that on the night of the killing on April 3, Taylor and Lillian and been drinking. They had argued about her mum, and had also argued about a forthcoming trip to see a match.

Taylor said he went to bed but was disturbed by the sound of his wife moving a computer table.

Mr Collins said: “Judging by his reaction during police interview, this act caused him to become very angry. He was still animated and agitated when recalling it, even thought the interview was several hours after the incident.

“He appeared to get unusually angry and suggested that if his wife had not annoyed him by doing this, she would still be alive. Throughout the interview, the accused stated that he had ‘lost it’.”

Taylor told detectives he had no recollection of killing his wife. He said: “I must have hit her with it. There was no one else in the house.”

Mr Collins said that Taylor, who had worked in the building and mining industries, was on sickness benefits and had a 25-year history of personality problems relating to irritability, anger control and obsessive compulsive behaviour and heavy drinking. He divorced from his first wife Carol in the late 1990s.

The prosecutor said: “On marrying and setting up home with Lillian, her family formed a dislike of the accused.

“Similarly, the accused appeared to have little time for any of his new wife’s family. There was particular animosity between him and his mother-in-law.”

Yesterday judge Lord Kinclaven told Taylor he would serve at least 12-and-a-half years before he could apply for parole.

He said: “You are unable to explain why you behaved in such a violent manner, ultimately ending in such a tragic loss of your wife’s life.”

After sentencing, the victim’s sister Elizabeth Martin, 48, said: “I feel that he has taken away a sister, friend, but most of all, her parents’ youngest daughter.

“He has also taken away my elderly mum’s lifeline to the outside world. Emrys has got what he deserves. He has got many, many years to sit and reflect on what he has done.”