Robert Rhodes was found guilty of murdering his wife Dawn Rhodes in Redhill, Surrey in 2016 after manipulating their child into helping him – now he’s had his ‘unduly lenient’ sentence increased
A man who killed his wife after coercing their child into assisting him has had the minimum term of his life sentence extended. Robert Rhodes, 53, slit his wife Dawn’s throat in their family home in Redhill, Surrey, in 2016, having schemed the murder for months and involved their child – who was under the age of 10 – in the deadly attack.
After murdering his wife, Rhodes stabbed himself and cut his child’s arm, as part of a strategy to claim that he acted in self-defence. A jury at a trial at the Old Bailey believed his fabricated tale and acquitted him in 2017, but in 2021 his traumatised child revealed the truth to a therapist and then the police.
Rhodes was convicted at a second trial at Inner London Crown Court in December of murder, two counts of perjury for false evidence at his Old Bailey trial and in the family courts in 2018, perverting the course of justice, and child cruelty.
He was jailed for 29-and-a-half years but solicitor General Ellie Reeves referred his sentence to the Court of Appeal as “unduly lenient”, and lawyers told a hearing on Tuesday that the murder sentence alone should have had a starting point of 30 years before the other offences were considered.
Lawyers for Rhodes, who attended via a video link from HMP Wayland in Norfolk, argued that the sentence should remain “as is” but it was increased to 33-and-a-half years.
In a judgement, Lady Justice May, alongside Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb and Judge Nigel Lickley KC, concurred that the sentence was excessively lenient and described the murder as “truly appalling”, adding: “We find it hard to conceive of a more heinous plot.”
The senior judge further noted that the deception involving the child was a “particularly abhorrent aspect of this case” entailing “callous, selfish manipulation and abuse”, which was “not sufficiently reflected” in the sentencing remarks of the trial judge, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen.
The minimum term is to be reduced by the number of days Rhodes spent in custody prior to his original sentencing, but the increase means he will not be released until at least 2057.
Tom Little KC, representing the Solicitor General, informed the court in written submissions that Rhodes had considered murdering his wife by January 2016 at the latest after discovering she was having an affair.
Rhodes told police following the murder that Dawn Rhodes had attacked him and the child, later instructing them to uphold the false narrative.
He evaded justice for eight years, with the child stating in a victim impact statement at Rhodes’ sentencing hearing in January that “the guilt and shame I feel will never go away”.
They said: “Robert Rhodes lied to me, bribed me, made me feel special in order to manipulate and abuse me for his own gain, leaving me ruined.”
Mr Little argued that the killing involved “significant planning and premeditation”, telling the court that the case was of “exceptional seriousness”, and that Mrs Justice Ellenbogen was “wrong”.
Nina Grahame KC, representing Rhodes, argued that it would be incorrect to “try to mechanistically break the offending apart”, and that the trial judge was “best-placed” to determine what minimum term was suitable.
She said: “Some judges would consider it lenient. It does not reach the unduly lenient test in our submission, and the sentence should remain as is.”
However, in the court’s judgment, Lady Justice May described the manipulation of the child as an act of “utter cruelty”, stating that the case was “extraordinary”.
She also emphasised that the child was “blameless” and that “none of this was (the child’s) fault”.
“It is thanks to (the child) that justice has been served, at last,” the judge concluded.