A husband who murdered his wife and then manipulated his own young child in a calculated and "wicked" plot to escape justice has been sentenced to life in prison.
A Brutal Murder and a Web of Lies
Robert Rhodes, 52, killed his wife Dawn in the kitchen of their family home in 2016 after discovering she was having an affair with a colleague. The carpenter had planned the killing for months before carrying out the fatal attack, which involved cutting his wife's throat.
In a shocking twist, Rhodes duped his child, who was under the age of ten at the time, into assisting with the murder. After the killing, he spun an elaborate false narrative, claiming he had acted in self-defence. To bolster this lie, he stabbed himself and even slashed his child's arm, before systematically "gaslighting" the youngster into supporting his fabricated story.
Retrial and Conviction Under Double Jeopardy Rules
Rhodes was initially acquitted of murder at an Old Bailey trial in 2017 after successfully arguing self-defence. However, the case was reopened years later when the traumatised child came forward with new evidence.
Speaking to a therapist and then the police in 2021, the child revealed the horrifying truth. This allowed prosecutors to pursue a retrial under double jeopardy rules, which permit a case to be retried when compelling new evidence emerges.
In a retrial at the Inner London Crown Court in December, Rhodes was found guilty of Dawn's murder. He was also convicted of two counts of perjury for giving false evidence at his original trial and in family court proceedings in 2018, as well as perverting the course of justice and child cruelty.
Life Sentence and Lasting Trauma
At a sentencing hearing on Friday, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen handed Rhodes a life sentence with a minimum term of 29-and-a-half years for murder. Concurrent jail terms were imposed for the other offences.
The judge branded Rhodes a "coward" for refusing to leave his prison cell to attend the hearing, a move she said added to his "malignant characteristics". She stated the motive was sexual jealousy and that his "wicked and callous acts" had a devastating impact on both families.
In a powerful statement, the child, who cannot be named, told the court of living with lifelong mental health struggles and the physical scar inflicted by their father. "While the symptoms can be managed, the traumatic experiences Robert Rhodes put me through will never go away," they said.
Dawn's mother, Liz Spencer, said in an impact statement: "I have waited nearly 10 years for this result. I don't look upon the result as justice, but I feel for the first time my daughter's voice is being heard." Rhodes, who maintained his innocence via his lawyer, now begins his life sentence.
