Horse expert jailed for life for killing husband at Devon home

A horse expert who murdered her husband by stabbing him in the back has been jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 17 years in prison.

Christine Rawle, 69, killed Ian Rawle, 72, as he mucked out her horses at their property in Braunton, Devon, on 21 August 2022.

She pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder, claiming she was acting in self-defence following years of abuse at the hands of her husband, but was convicted of the charge by a unanimous jury on Friday 22 March.

Judge James Adkin told Rawle she “violently thrust” a knife with a 12.5-inch blade into her husband’s back, intending to kill him, during a heated argument about the sale of land on their £800,000 home.

Exeter Crown Court previously heard Mr Rawle then followed his wife of 27 years for 100 yards telling her to remove the knife, before collapsing and dying from the wound.

The judge told Rawle: “You said to the police that you were frightened of your husband. But he was a 72-year-old man with a knife in his back. He wanted you to help him. But it seems to me you refused to do so.”

During the trial, Rawle claimed she had been the victim of coercive and controlling behaviour – suffering years of physical and psychological abuse from her husband.

The judge said: “Ian was not perfect. The evidence showed that he was obstinate, sometimes grumpy, he could shout, he was stuck in his ways and he was old-fashioned in terms of how he wanted a relationship with his wife.

"But he was in no way the serial domestic abuser you sought to portray him as.”

He added: “The main reason you killed your husband was that you have an ungovernable temper.”

During the trial, prosecutors said the couple had a dysfunctional marriage and likened them to the Roald Dahl characters The Twits.