Wife killer loses appeal

Stephen Butters attempted suicide after killing his wife

A Teesside man jailed for life for the murder of his bride of just a few days, has lost a Court of Appeal bid to have his conviction overturned.

Stephen Butters, then 41, was found guilty in November 2001 of stabbing to death 19-year-old Claire Cummings.

Butters was in the dock on Monday to hear three judges in London dismiss his challenge.

He claimed that he was suffering from diminished responsibility when he killed Ms Cummings in May 2001.

But Lord Justice Rose, Mr Justice Grigson and Mr Justice Beatson ruled that the murder conviction was "safe".

The appeal judges had been urged to quash the murder conviction and substitute a verdict of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

Claire Cummings had been married for less then four days

But Lord Justice Rose, upholding the murder conviction and dismissing the appeal, said: "There is, as it seems to us, no sustainable criticism of the judge's summing up, nor any reason to regard this verdict as unsafe.

"There is certainly no reason for this court to substitute a verdict different from that of the jury who had the advantage of hearing all the evidence in this case.

"Accordingly ... this appeal must be dismissed."

During his trial the jury was told that Butters stabbed his bride six times in bed at their home in Loftus, Cleveland.

The unemployed father-of-seven, who was married three times, had admitted unlawfully killing his bride and claimed diminished responsibility.

'No motive'

David Robson, QC, said Butters had been "passionately in love with his new wife" who he murdered three days after their wedding on Friday 4 May 2001.

Mr Robson said that at the outset of the case the Crown offered no motive for what had happened.

The jury heard that Butters was an insomniac who had run out of sleeping tablets and killed his wife after three days without sleep.

After stabbing Ms Cummings, he tried to kill himself.

Lord Justice Rose said it was apparent the killing was "inexplicable" in the sense that there is no apparent motive, but it did not necessarily mean that Butters was suffering from an abnormality of mind.

The appeal was contested by the Crown.