Mortgage broker guilty of murdering his wife at their Histon home so he could pay off debts with life insurance payout

A mortgage broker strangled his wife to death at their Histon home so he could claim her life insurance and pay off his growing debts.

A jury has found Robert Hammond, known as James, guilty of murdering Sian Hammond at their home in Primes Corner, on 29 October last year.

Cambridge Crown Court heard Hammond, 47, had spiralling debts of more than £300,000 and spent months lying and creating excuses to delay payments to HMRC and a financial company.

The life cover was worth £450,000 - and he told one company following his wife’s death that he would be able to pay off the debt.

The court was told that Hammond called police at 2am after murdering Sian, 46, claiming he had found her not breathing. He always denied any wrongdoing.

But today the jury returned its unanimous guilty verdict and Hammond will be sentenced on 23 July.

Afterwards, Detective Inspector Richard Stott, from the Beds, Cambs and Herts Major Crime Unit, described it as an unusual case because suspicions were not raised until a coroner’s post mortem examination on 3 November, which identified injuries that caused alarm.

A forensic post-mortem exam a week later concluded the cause of death was compression of the neck.

Det Insp Stott said: “The pathology played a key part in this investigation, and this started to show how Mr Hammond had lied about how his wife had died.

“Once the investigation progressed it showed Hammond to be a competent liar and the large debts and financial pressures he was under became clear. His greed and fear of losing his public standing led to him murdering his wife to benefit from her life insurance and to continue to hide his debt and lies.

“Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Sian; she was a loved and well-liked person and an active and successful businesswoman.”

Sian’s family previously said: “Everyone that knew her would agree Sian was one of the friendliest people you could have the pleasure of meeting, and she will be sorely missed by many.”

The court heard on the day of the murder Hammond and his wife had spent the day together shopping and using their home gym.

Their home CCTV showed no other person had entered or left the house that night and there was no suggestion that anyone else was involved.

Hammond was arrested for murder on 10 November, but maintained he had not harmed her.

Christopher Paxton KC, when opening the prosecution case, told Cambridge Crown Court that a post-mortem examination “established Sian Hammond had been strangled and sustained other injuries”.

A forensic pathologist gave evidence explaining how the injuries to Sian were consistent with a struggle.

Then police discovered he had been putting off paying debts by making claims he had cancer and was getting a divorce.

The jury heard Hammond admit to being a “good liar” and that his claims had helped to delay his repayments.

Days before Sian was murdered, Hammond called her life insurance company and made a payment to reinstate the policy.

Mr Paxton said Hammond, who ran a business called Hammond Mortgage Services, was about £300,000 in debt, with about £200,000 of this was owed to Legal and General, and an agent who was pursuing this debt called him on October 30.

“He told her his wife Sian had died that morning and even though they were divorcing she was the mother of his children,” Mr Paxton said.

The prosecutor said the defendant’s case was that they were happily married.

Mr Paxton said that Hammond spoke to the agent again on November 3 about the debt and inquired “if he was able to pay off the debt quicker, as he would be having life insurance paid to him, would Legal and General review the interest payments on the debt balance”.

“Sian Hammond had been dead barely a week and this was the defendant’s focus,” Mr Paxton said.

He said that Hammond “had eyes on the prize of Sian’s life insurance pay-off”.