Killer husband loses appeal bid

Derek Symmons asked the court to consider his age

A man jailed for life for strangling his wife and driving her body in the boot of his car to France has lost an appeal to win an earlier parole date.

Derek Symmons, 65, of Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, was ordered to serve least 16 years in 2006 for murdering Christine, in September 2005.

Appeal Court judge Lady Justice Hallett rejected an appeal by Symmons, who asked the court to consider his age.

She said his growing old or dying in prison was an "inevitable consequence".

Edward Fitzgerald QC, representing Symmons, told the court that imposing a sentence likely to result in a prisoner dying behind bars was inappropriate.

'Cold-blooded behaviour'

He added that the sentencing judge had failed sufficiently to take into account Symmons' mental history.

Mr Fitzgerald described his client as not a "normal healthy person".

Christine Symmons was murdered after a marriage guidance session

Rejecting the appeal, Lady Justice Hallett said: "The appellant stood to be sentenced on the basis he lost his temper with his wife and launched a sustained and savage attack upon her.

"Afterwards, he behaved in an appallingly cold-blooded and cold-hearted way, no doubt adding considerably to the distress of his own children.

"The inevitable consequence of a 62-year-old man's committing a murder, for which the agreed starting point is a minimum term of 15 years' imprisonment to serve, is that he is to grow old, if not die, in prison."

Symmons strangled his wife after returning home from a marriage guidance counselling session.

He drove her body to France where he confessed his crime to a hotel receptionist.