Man who murdered wife over affair with joiner to be sentenced

A man who stabbed his accountant wife to death a day after he discovered she was having an affair with a joiner will be sentenced today for murder.

Stuart Gallear, 51, claimed he did not intend to kill wife Mandy, 42, in the kitchen of their home in Hindley, Wigan, and said he momentarily lost his self-control.

Last week a jury at Manchester Crown Court rejected his account and unanimously found him guilty of murder on October 6 last year.

Police arrived at the couple's home in Makinson Avenue within 10 minutes of the defendant ringing for an ambulance and found the mother-of-two lying motionless on the kitchen floor with three deep wounds to her chest.

Mrs Gallear, head of accounts at a property firm, was rushed to hospital but medics could not resuscitate her and she was pronounced dead.

Six months earlier, Mrs Gallear confessed to her husband, a warehouse manager, about having an affair, but denied it was with joiner Mark Prescott and said it had ended.

However, on October 5 the son of Mr Prescott's partner called at the Gallears' front door and revealed the relationship was ongoing.

Following his arrest, Gallear claimed the couple talked "amicably" about their imminent break-up as he came home from the pub where he had drank five pints of lager.

Gallear said his wife then said: "Anyway, it's sorted now. We are separating. I love him more than you" and his memory of what happened next was "blurred" as he picked up a large kitchen knife and attacked her.

He claimed his wife then protested "what are you doing? I still love you" and he then "just snapped out of it", put the knife aside and rang for assistance.

But the prosecution said the stabbing was the culmination of his anger and resentment which built up over the two days.

A post-mortem examination revealed that one of the stab wounds was 19cm (7.4in) deep and cut through the breast bone - delivered by a knife with a 19.5cm (7.6in) blade.

Gallear, originally from Wolverhampton, had admitted manslaughter but the Crown did not accept his plea.

Mr Justice Openshaw will sentence Gallear from 10am.