Violent husband staged nurse wife's murder to look like a suicide

A violent husband who murdered his wife and tried to pass the crime off as a suicide has been jailed for life.

Ryan Timms rang for an ambulance in the middle of the night, claiming to have found nurse wife Lynsey hanging at their village home. And police said he almost away with the lie but for the ‘professional curiosity’ of attending paramedics and officers.

The 44-year-old was jailed for life on Monday after being convicted of murder – by majority verdict, after a judge heard how he had ‘staged’ a suicide at their home in Hartshill, Warwickshire, in July last year.

Following the sentencing, the detective chief inspector who led the investigation said Warwickshire Police said the death of Mrs Timms ‘could easily have been categorised as a suicide’ but for the actions of attending emergency service workers.

Sentencing Timms to serve a minimum of 19 years, Mr Justice Jay said mother-of-four Mrs Timms – the daughter of an ambulanceman - had been ‘killed by her husband, whom she was entitled to trust…in her own home, where she was entitled to feel safe.’

The court heard the couple had begun rowing after consuming alcohol and consuming cocaine. The judge said Timms, an electrician, had been ‘harping on about a grievance which was already a year old and for which Lynsey must have apologised to you on numerous previous occasions’, causing her to eventually retire to bed.

But Timms then started repeatedly texting her, before going upstairs and becoming violent.

The court heard both had taken cocaine and consumed alcohol.

When paramedics were called shortly before 4am, then found Mrs Timms, 42, in cardiac arrest and took her to hospital, where she died four days later.

But after talking to Timms, police officers noticed that there were some inconsistencies in the story he was providing.

A Warwickshire Police spokesman said: ‘The assault had supposedly taken place upstairs, with Timms having taken her body downstairs afterwards.

‘Members of the ambulance crew and attending officers observed that it would have been difficult to have accomplished this, with items cluttering a steep and narrow staircase.’

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Timms was bailed pending further investigations, but a post-mortem examination showed evidence not in keeping with a hanging as cause of death. Instead, it supported a neck hold as the likely cause of death.

Police then arrested Timms for a second time, on suspicion of murder and he was convicted after a trial earlier this month.

Sentencing Timms on Monday, Mr Justice Jay told the defendant he was ‘satisfied based on all the evidence the court received that there was a history of domestic violence perpetrated by you that lasted a number of years.’

The judge added at Warwick Crown Court: ‘You took active steps to make this murder look like suicide, and in so doing seriously hampered the police investigation, and delayed justice.

‘The fact that the steps you took were not particularly convincing is nothing to the point. Had suicide not been raised by you at the very outset, the only issue in this case would have been the nature of your intent. In my view, it is right that I should treat your actions that night, and maintained throughout this trial, as an aggravating factor. I am satisfied so that I am sure that you intended to kill Lynsey.’

DCI Collette O’Keefe said of the ‘challenging and complex’ investigation: ‘The prompt actions and meticulous attention to detail by the police and ambulance personnel established the foundation of the investigation.

‘The death of this woman could easily have been categorised as a suicide if it wasn’t for the professional curiosity of attending officers and paramedics.’

She said officers then conducted a ‘comprehensive and intricate review of the couple’s life’, which established that Mrs Timms had ‘suffered in silence for many years’.

DCI O’Keefe added: ‘The relationship was toxic and she suffered alone in silence. She kept the domestic abuse hidden from family, friends, and work colleagues. It was evident that she had wanted to leave.

‘Our officers didn’t believe Ryan’s account that she had taken her own life. There were too many inconsistencies in his story.

‘I would like to thank them for their curiosity, and to also thank the team who have worked tirelessly on this investigation for their perseverance and diligence.

‘Nothing will bring her back, but I hope this outcome will bring reassurance to her family that justice has been done.

‘We encourage any and all victims of domestic violence to come forward and tell us about it so we can prevent tragic events like this from happening in future.’

Ryan and Lynsey Timms met at Hartshill School in their home village and had been ‘childhood sweethearts’, with Mrs Timms leaving school early to give birth to their first child, a former neighbour told MailOnline today.

The couple went on to have three more children and led outwardly quiet and respectable lives, with Mrs Timms working at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Mr Timms in well-paid employment as an electrician.

But villagers said that despite living next door to a pub, the couple were rarely seen and did not socialise with their neighbours.

One woman said: ‘I only saw Lynsey once, when I took in a parcel for her and went around to return it. We’re a close-knit community here, but that was the extent of our interactions.

‘The other two times I went to take them a parcel, there was no answer at the door.’

A former neighbour said she was ‘shocked’ to read about what happened to the ‘devoted’ mother after the Timms family moved to the other side of the village around five years ago.

She added: ‘Lynsey was a lovely woman. When I lost my husband she went out and bought me a figurine of an angel, which I still have. I was really upset when I read about what happened.

‘They seemed like a happy couple when they lived by me.’

Timms was re-arrested for a second time in June this year, after police investigated the couple’s life and realised there were too many inconsistencies in Timms’ story.