Carer who starved landlord to death to inherit his fortune is jailed
A live-in carer who starved a man to death in order to inherit part of his multimillion-pound estate has been jailed for life, with a minimum term of 28 years.
Lynda Rickard, 62, was found guilty of murdering former auctioneer's clerk, 59-year-old James Sootheran, known as Anthony, after he was found dead in his bedroom at High Havens Farm in the village of South Newington, Oxfordshire, on March 18 2014.
Mr Sootheran's death was not initially treated as suspicious, but prosecutors urged police to investigate after Lynda Rickard was found to have used his bank account after he died.
Her husband Wayne Richard, 66, was acquitted of murder but found guilty of the lesser charge of causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult.
He was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison.
The Rickards moved into Anthony's farmhouse in 2006, where Lynda Rickard cared for his mother, Joy Sootheran.
Despite receiving £47,000 a year in her caring role, she started using Joy’s money as her own and forged her will so that her family stood to share the bulk of Joy’s estate with Anthony.
When issues arose regarding the validity of Joy’s will after her death, Lynda Rickard turned to forging Anthony’s will so that she would benefit from his fortune.
She was found guilty of deliberately starving Anthony, understood to be the first time in more than a century that a successful prosecution for murder by deliberate starvation has been made.
Watch: Police read out charges to Lynda Rickard before her arrest
Both Mr and Mrs Rickard were also both found guilty of fraud by false representation relating to a £30,000 Mitsubishi Shogun paid for with Mrs Sootheran's money in 2010, while Mr Rickard was convicted of a charge of perverting the course of justice.
Mrs Rickard earlier pleaded guilty to four fraud charges, two counts of forgery, two counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and possession of articles for use in fraud.
Judge Mr Justice Wall handed Mrs Rickard the sentence, telling her she had "cynically and systematically bled this family" over a decade.
"Your greed was such that when you thought Anthony Sootheran might act in a way which would derail your gravy train, you murdered him," he said.
"You murdered Anthony in a most cruel and hard-hearted way. You starved him of food and left him on a mattress on the floor of his room to die."
Mr Sootheran's daughter Hannah Sootheran, who won a civil court fight for her father's estate against the Rickards, said the impact on her and her family's lives had been "heartbreaking".
The court heard how Lynda Rickard isolated Mr Sootheran and stopped him from seeing his daughter.
"I can't comprehend how somebody who said they cared deeply for my dad left him to die in such horrible conditions," she said in a statement read in court.
"I have not had the chance to grieve and get on with a normal life."