Robert Rhodes, 52, from Withleigh, was convicted of stabbing his wife Dawn to death in their kitchen in 2016 after discovering she had been having an affair with a colleague
A husband who brutally stabbed his wife to death and chillingly manipulated their young child to evade justice is now staring down a life sentence for his appalling crime. Robert Rhodes, 52, from Withleigh, killed his wife Dawn in their kitchen in 2016 after learning she had been having an affair with a work colleague.
He meticulously orchestrated the killing and deceived their child, who was under 10, into helping him lie to authorities.
Following the murder, Rhodes duped police and the courts into believing he had inflicted the fatal wound to his wife in self-defence when she attacked him. The ruse worked, and he managed to walk free from murder charges at his Old Bailey trial in 2017.
But in 2021, his child confided in a therapist, disclosing they’d been coerced into supporting Rhodes’ lies as part of his sinister plan to “get rid of mummy”. The father then faced a rare double jeopardy second murder trial and was convicted by a jury last December thanks to the fresh evidence.
At Inner London Crown Court on Friday, January 16, Rhodes will be handed a life sentence when Mrs Justice Ellenbogen passes judgment, according to PA. Alongside the murder conviction, Rhodes was also found guilty of two counts of perjury for giving false evidence at his Old Bailey trial and in the Family Courts in 2018, perverting the course of justice, and child cruelty, reports Devon Live.
Rhodes murdered his wife on June 2, 2016, after initiating divorce proceedings. The child – whose identity is protected by law – rang 999 at 7.34pm, during which Rhodes claimed his wife had attacked both him and their child with a knife.
Dawn Rhodes was discovered with a fatal throat wound on the kitchen floor of the family home in Redhill, Surrey. Rhodes instantly launched his fabricated defence, telling officers that his wife had struck him twice on the back of the head, and later during his initial trial he described her coming at him after “flipping like a Hulk”.
To lend credibility to his story, the father had stabbed himself and inflicted a cut on the child’s arm – injuries he attributed to his wife. The accused believed he had escaped justice when a jury acquitted him in 2017.
However, the truth started to emerge when the child confided in a therapist about being manipulated, before approaching police. Rhodes had drawn the youngster into his conspiracy, rehearsing them to corroborate his false account.
Upon his second arrest for the murder, he significantly told officers he had “thought this would come back to bite me”. His murder acquittal was overturned in the Court of Appeal, and the Crown Prosecution Service received authorisation from senior judges to pursue a second trial.
The testimony provided by the child has proved crucial to the fresh proceedings. They disclosed that Rhodes had stayed in touch whilst on bail in 2016 and 2017, instructing them to adhere to the plan.
The father persistently manipulated his child, going as far as concealing a mobile phone at his mother’s residence where he’d record messages reminding the youngster of their pact. The child had been coached to instruct Dawn Rhodes to shut her eyes and await a picture being handed over.
As they exited the room, Rhodes launched an assault on his wife with a knife whilst she stood with her eyes shut, completely oblivious to the looming threat. “The new evidence that came from the child witness was profoundly shocking and showed just how much careful planning Robert Rhodes had put into murdering his wife”, said Libby Clark, from the CPS.
“He exploited a young child before the murder, explaining his plan to cover up the truth and make it appear as if Dawn had attacked him, so that he could claim that he acted in self-defence. This included Rhodes inflicting injuries on the young child’s arm.
“He continued with his web of lies over the intervening years. It is thanks to the immense bravery of the child in coming forward to explain exactly what happened that night that Robert Rhodes has finally been brought to justice for the murder of Dawn, something he mistakenly thought he could get away with.
“None of us can even begin to imagine what Rhodes has put the child through over a period of many years. Now though, as a result of their evidence, Dawn can now be remembered by everyone in the right way – as a victim of her violent partner.”
Detective chief inspector Kimball Edey, from the Surrey and Sussex Police major crime team, said: “During the first trial, Dawn was portrayed as the villain but had actually been a victim of domestic abuse and coercive control at the hands of her husband for years.
“The fact that Rhodes not only murdered his wife in cold blood but then manipulated and groomed his own child to play a part in his evil scheme and cover up what he had done is simply despicable – not only did he take a life; he irreparably damaged another, as well as the lives of everyone else who loved Dawn.”
The Devon man denied all charges levelled against him during his second trial. On Friday, Rhodes will receive an automatic life sentence for murder, with the judge set to decide the minimum term he must serve before being eligible for parole.
