Man murdered wife and tricked child to help – but ‘plan to kill mummy’ emerged

NewsUK NewsMurderRobert Rhodes has had the minimum term of his life sentence raised from 29-and-a-half years to 33-and-a-half years by the Court of Appeal after murdering his wife12:02, 07 Jul 2026Updated 12:20, 07 Jul 2026A man who murdered his wife and tricked their child into helping him has had his jail sentence increased.‌The minimum term of Robert Rhodes' life sentence was today raised from 29-and-a-half years to 33-and-a-half years by the Court of Appeal.‌Rhodes, 52, was handed a life sentence in January after a rare double jeopardy second murder trial found him guilty in December.‌Rhodes killed wife Dawn in the kitchen of their family home in 2016 as their marriage crumbled and he discovered she had been having an affair with a work colleague.In an effort to get away with his crime, Rhodes roped in their child, who was under the age of 10, into helping him. In the aftermath, Rhodes spun a web of lies while pretending he inflicted the fatal wound to his wife when she attacked him.The ploy worked, and he succeeded in being cleared of murder at his Old Bailey trial in 2017. But four years later, his child revealed the truth to a therapist, that they had been manipulated into supporting Rhodes’ lies as part of his plan to “get rid of mummy”. The compelling new evidence led to the rare retrial.‌Inner London Crown Court was told that the murder happened on June 2, 2016, when the couple’s marriage had hit the rocks and Rhodes had filed for divorce.Police received a 999 call from the child – who cannot be named for legal reasons – at 7.34pm during which Rhodes said his wife had attacked him and their child with a knife.Dawn Rhodes was found lying on the kitchen floor at their home in Redhill, Surrey, with her throat cut, and her husband began to mount his bogus defence.Article continues belowHe claimed to officers that his wife had hit him twice on the back of the head, and later in his first trial he described her coming at him after “flipping like a Hulk”.To back up his claims, Rhodes had stabbed himself and inflicted a cut on the child’s arm – wounds he blamed on his wife.Mrs Justice Ellenbogen sentenced Rhodes to life in prison for the murder with a minimum term of 29-and-a-half years in January this year but that has now been increased by the Court of Appeal.Choose Daily Mirror as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.‌MurderBreaking News