Married police officer who strangled long-term lover has sentence increased

19 March 2021, 11:32

A married police officer who strangled his long-term lover after she revealed their affair to his wife has had his sentence for her manslaughter increased to 13 and a half years by the Court of Appeal.

Former Dorset Police constable Timothy Brehmer, 41, killed mother-of-two Claire Parry after she sent a text message from his phone to his wife, saying: "I am cheating on you."

Ms Parry, 41, died during what Brehmer described as a "kerfuffle" in his car in the car park of the Horns Inn in West Parley, Dorset, on May 9 last year.

Brehmer, of Hordle, Hampshire, claimed the married nurse accidentally suffered the fatal injury while he was trying to push her out of his Citroen car so he could drive away.

He was cleared of murder by a jury following a trial at Salisbury Crown Court, but had previously admitted Ms Parry's manslaughter, for which he was jailed for 10 and a half years in October.

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Following a referral by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, the Court of Appeal increased his sentence by three years in a ruling on Friday.

The Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett said that the sentencing judge, Mr Justice Jacobs, "gave too little weight to the aggravating factors he had identified".

Lord Burnett said: "We quash the sentence of 10 and a half years imprisonment and substitute a sentence of 13 and a half years imprisonment."

The Court of Appeal also rejected a bid by Brehmer to have his sentence reduced.