Ex-British policeman jailed in Australia for throwing his wife from cliff

A former British policeman has been sentenced to at least 24 years in jail in Australia for killing his wife by pushing her over a cliff. Desmond Campbell convinced his wife of six months, Janet, to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars before killing her on a camping trip south of Sydney five years ago. The position of her footprint and a broken tree branch at the scene suggested that she had struggled to avoid her fate. "In those moments, the magnitude of her mistake in believing that marriage to the offender opened a new chapter in her life must have come home to her," said Justice Megan Latham who took the rare step of allowing television cameras into court for sentencing. Justice Latham said Campbell had taken the life of a naïve, middle-aged country woman whom he had manipulated and deceived. She said that Janet Campbell, 49, had "died in a strange place far from her family, her friends and her community". Outside the court, Janet Campbell's brother, Kevin Neander, said he hoped Campbell spent his time in jail looking over his shoulder. "He was a known conman. He conned people everywhere," added Neander, who said his sister's killer was "as low as a snake's guts". The investigating police officer, Detective Sergeant Shannon Spargo, said he was very happy with the result, particularly for the family. "I just hope they can get some closure on the matter," he said. During Campbell's trial, Crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi QC, argued the defendant never had any intention of living a normal married life with his wife of six months. "Having obtained a very substantial amount of money from her, he no longer had any further use for her and he needed to dispose of her," he told the court. Campbell, who served in the Surrey police force in the 1990s, had told police his wife had fallen over the 50-metre high cliff when she left their tent to go to the toilet. But the prosecution maintained he pushed her over the cliff out of sheer greed for her money. Campbell met Janet, his third wife, when he was working as an ambulance officer in the town of Deniliquin, eight hours drive south-west of Sydney. She was widowed and known to be well off when they married in 2004. The Crown argued that while Janet was "madly, passionately in love'", Campbell had described her to others as "pig ugly" and a "fat, ugly, dumb bitch" and that he had three girlfriends during their short marriage. He did not attend her funeral. Campbell has always maintained his innocence. His lawyer says he will appeal.