MAN SENTENCED TO 14 YEARS FOR MURDERING WIFE IN BOURNE END
John McGrory, a lorry driver from Wooburn, has received a minimum sentence of 14 years after being convicted of his wife’s murder.During the sentencing at Reading Crown Court this afternoon, the judge highlighted the profound and devastating effect that Marie McGrory’s death has had on her family.
Family members and friends, including Ed McGuinness, a man with whom she was having an affair, were present in the public gallery as the sentence was issued.
Her Honour Judge Smith noted that the typical starting point for such a sentence would be 15 years but took into account several mitigating circumstances, such as the fact that McGrory’s wife had recently started a new relationship and the uncertainty surrounding his future living arrangements.
The jury, comprised of six men and six women, reached a unanimous guilty verdict after about an hour of deliberation.
The verdict drew emotional reactions from spectators, some crying or expressing joy.
McGrory, a former soldier, was seen looking downcast in the dock as the foreman pronounced the verdict.
He had admitted to strangling 39-year-old Marie, also known as 'Milly', with a dog lead at their home on Holtspur Avenue but maintained that he could not remember the act, denying it was murder.
Since his arrest on January 3 at Oxfordshire’s Bullingdon Prison, he has already served 192 days of his sentence.
