Ryan Timms killed Lynsey Timms then tried to make it look like suicide

A violent husband who murdered his wife and tried to claim it was suicide has been jailed for life.

Ryan Timms rang for an ambulance in the middle of the night, claiming to have found nurse Lynsey hanging at their village home.

And police revealed he almost got away with the lie but for the ‘professional curiosity’ of attending paramedics and officers.

Timms, 44, was jailed for life on Monday after being convicted of murder – by majority verdict – having ‘staged’ a suicide at the couple’s home in Hartshill, Warwickshire, in July last year.

Mr Justice Jay, sentencing Timms at Warwick Crown Court to a minimum of 19 years, said Lynsey – a mother-of-four and daughter of an ambulanceman – had been ‘killed by her husband, whom she was entitled to trust, in her own home, where she was entitled to feel safe’.

The judge said electrician Timms had been ‘harping on about a grievance which was a year old and for which Lynsey must have apologised to you on numerous previous occasions’, causing her to retire to bed. But Timms then started repeatedly texting her before going upstairs and becoming violent.

The court heard both had taken cocaine and consumed alcohol.

When paramedics were called shortly before 4am, they found Lynsey, 42, in cardiac arrest. She died four days later in hospital. Police then noticed ‘too many inconsistencies’ in Timms’ story.

A post-mortem exam found a neck hold was a likely cause of death and Timms, who had been with Lynsey since their school days, was arrested in June.

Mr Justice Jay told him: ‘You took active steps to make this murder look like suicide.

‘Had suicide not been raised by you at the outset, the only issue in this case would have been the nature of your intent. I am sure that you intended to kill Lynsey.’

Warwickshire Police, following the sentencing, said Timms claimed that the death ‘had supposedly taken place upstairs, with Timms having taken her body downstairs afterwards’

The statement added: ‘Members of the ambulance crew and attending officers observed it would have been difficult to have accomplished this, with items cluttering a steep and narrow staircase.’

Detective Chief Inspector Collette O’Keefe, speaking of the ‘challenging’ police investigation, said: ‘The death of this woman could easily have been categorised as a suicide if it was not for the professional curiosity of officers and paramedics.’

She revealed that officers had conducted a ‘complex’ review of Lynsey’s life’, adding: ‘She had suffered in silence for many years; the relationship was toxic.

‘She kept the domestic abuse hidden from family, friends and work colleagues. It was evident that she had wanted to leave.’

Lynsey’s brother Stuart Taylor, 45, from Hadley, Shropshire, said: ‘The family and I never believed his [Ryan’s] story.

‘Suicide was something Lynsey would never have contemplated.

‘I would just like to say a huge thank you to the police and the paramedics. I am so grateful they took the time and made the effort to get to the truth.’