Yachtsman, 68, who murdered ex-wife at their son’s graveside as a result of he blamed her for his suicide will spend greater than 25 years in jail

A yachting enthusiast was today told he faces at least 25 years behind bars after violently murdering his ex-wife at their late son’s graveside. 

Martin Suter, 68, was acting deliberately when he took a 12-inch knife from his kitchen to a cemetery to attack sailor Ann Blackwood, 71, in July 2023, a judge ruled.

Although Suter has already admitted murder, he was seeking to be sentenced under more lenient guidelines, by arguing he had not gone to the cemetery intending to murder his ex-wife – and only took the knife with him to cut flowers. 

Suter ‘laid in wait’ for five hours at the graveyard to launched a brutal attack, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the birthday of their late son, Christopher. 

He stabbed her in the back with the kitchen knife then ‘finished her off’ by repeatedly slashing her neck with a pair of scissors, which she had brought to trim memorial flowers.

The attack was so frenzied that Ms Blackwood suffered 19 stab wounds to her neck from the scissors and the kitchen knife blade broke off inside her, it was heard.

After the attack in Stubbington, Hants, Suter phoned the police and told them ‘I have just killed by ex-wife’ before blaming her for the suicide of his son, who had ‘died by his own hand’ in 2003.

Suter then called his second wife, Diane Suter, to tell her that ‘he had just murdered Ann and that the knife had broken in her’.

Today, at a special hearing to establish the facts of the case, Judge Michael Bowes KC told Suter that the circumstances of the murder ‘fall within the guidelines which mean that the starting point is 25 years imprisonment’.

A formal sentencing will take place on November 21.

Handing down his ruling at Portsmouth Crown Court, the judge said Suter arrived at the graveyard with a knife and a pair of secateurs in the car. 

‘So far as his wife, Diane, was aware, he had never taken that knife with him to the cemetery before…she had never known him to be violent and feared that he might harm himself,’ he said. 

‘In the past Ann had gone to the cemetery the day before his birthday and generally the defendant would avoid going when he thought she would be there.’

The judge rejected the explanation of the defence that he had simply gone to the graveyard to leave flowers and wanted to avoid confrontation.  

He said: ‘I am unable to accept that the defence is truthful.

‘I am satisfied that the defendant took the kitchen knife from his house on July 24 with the intention of committing an offence or having it available to use as a weapon.

‘He laid in wait for five hours and when she arrived he murdered her.

‘The defendant’s murder will fall within the guidelines which mean that the starting point is 25 years imprisonment.

‘I am not sentencing today. The formal sentence will be on November 21.’

The court previously heard that Suter left his home in Lee-on-the-Solent, Hants, at around 10.20am on July 24, 2023.

He drove his burgundy Mazda MX-5 Sports car for approximately 10 minutes before arriving to Crofton Cemetery in Stubbington, Hants.

He had arrived to the cemetery armed with a 12-inch kitchen knife and flowers, which he had purchased the previous day.

The date marked the 36th birthday of his and Ms Blackwood’s late son Christopher, who was found hanged in July 2003.

Robert O’Sullivan KC, prosecuting, told the court at the start of a hearing in September that Suter then ‘laid in wait’ for the arrival of Ms Blackwood, who he ‘rightly anticipated’ would visit the grave that day.

The court heard that Ms Blackwood duly arrived by bicycle at around 3.30pm.

While walking to the grave, Suter snuck up behind her and used the kitchen knife to stab her in the back.

The court heard the blade had broken off from the handle, and he then ‘stabbed her in the neck with scissors’.

The prosecutor said these scissors belonged to Ms Blackwood, and she had brought them with her ‘to cut the flowers she had intended to leave on her son’s grave’.

It was heard that she also had orange roses with her.

Some minutes later, Suter called 999 and told the operator ‘I have just murdered someone’ and ‘I have just killed by ex-wife, I have stabbed her to death’.

The court heard Suter told the operator he had ‘used a knife’ and had ‘blamed her for his son’s suicide’.

He told the police: ‘I stabbed her with a kitchen knife and scissors. The knife broke, it’s still inside. The scissors are alongside.’

The police officer told Suter that he sounded ‘very calm’, to which he responded: ‘No, I won’t disturb the gardener.’

Shortly after this phone call with the police, Suter phoned his second wife Mrs Suter ‘and told her that he had just murdered Ann and that the knife had broken in her’.

He told his partner that Ms Blackwood ‘had a pair of scissors and I finished her off with them’.

The police arrived and Suter was seen standing next to Ms Blackwood, who was ‘laying on the ground’.

It is believed that Ms Blackwood was ‘taken by surprise’ and was ‘rapidly overwhelmed by the attack’.

Suter lived in a £800,000 home around a mile from Ms Blackwood in seaside town Lee-on-the-Solent, in a large property overlooking the Solent.

The area is popular with sailing enthusiasts.

Suter was a Green Party member and council election candidate. He was also an active member of the St Faith’s Church in Lee-on-the-Solent.

Suter admitted murder in court in May last year but his case was subjected to reporting restrictions.

In June, his plea was reported for the first time after a judge lifted the restrictions.

Suter also faced a separate trial in Manchester last year for historic abuse of a young girl and was convicted of indecently assaulting a girl under 14.

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