News
Family photoA man has been found guilty of “brutally” murdering his partner by strangling her at the home they shared following an argument.
Alcwyn Thomas, 44, claimed that Victoria Thomas, 45, died during “make up sex” in a spare bedroom where she had asked to be choked.
The prosecution argued that this was a “smokescreen” and that Thomas “attacked and strangled” Ms Thomas in a room where she had gone to get away from him.
Thomas admitted manslaughter but denied murder at their home in Caerphilly Road, Cardiff.
It took a jury at Cardiff Crown Court four and a half hours to convict him after a trial lasting almost two weeks.
Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke told Thomas he faced a life sentence, with a minimum term to be determined at the sentencing hearing in April.
After drinking heavily and taking cocaine, Thomas strangled his partner in a spare bedroom at the home they shared.
The pair had been in a relationship for four years but were not married.
The jury heard that Thomas had been out with Ms Thomas during the day of 20 August 2024.
They had visited pubs before going to a bingo hall. He had drunk around 16 pints of lager and taken cocaine.
One witnesses told the court he was “not really himself and looked through me” whilst at the bingo, said he was “angry and hot headed”.
Thomas had admitted that he and Ms Thomas were “bickering” whilst out, but said that was “nothing unusual. We never had a screaming match”.
The court heard that on the night, Ms Thomas had sent expletive ridden messages to other family members complaining about how he was behaving.
The couple went home by taxi. Ms Thomas sat in the front whilst Thomas sat in the back.
The taxi driver told the court he was complaining he had lost money and was “rude, drunk and unsteady”.
Around an hour and a half after arriving home, Thomas sent a message to his sister saying “I’m sorry I’ve done something really bad”.
The judge said that only Thomas knew what had happened after they entered the house.
He claimed Ms Thomas had started watching the erotic film 50 Shades of Grey in the living room whilst he went to the bedroom and dozed.
Later he claimed she came to the bedroom, put on a “sexy robe” and took some other items and their “sex blanket” to a spare room.
He said he followed and they began having “make up sex”.
Prosecutor Michael Jones suggested to Thomas that Ms Thomas was wearing a hotel robe with her bank card and driving license in the pocket and that she had gone to the spare room “to get away from you”.
A neighbour told the jury he had heard a scream lasting around 45 seconds and a door slamming.
Thomas claimed that Ms Thomas asked him to choke her during sex saying they had done this on “hundreds” of previous occasions.
He told the jury he opened his eyes and believed she was dead because she was blue.
He said her body slid to the floor from the bed and he partially covered her but made no attempt to revive her.
Relatives became concerned at the text messages and went to the house, but Ms Thomas could not be revived.
Thomas told the jury “I killed her accidentally” but after four and a half hours consideration, they found him guilty of murder.
He will be sentenced at a hearing on 24 April.
